Bibliography: leaves 281-316. Presents investigations on pubertal development in South Australian merino ram lambs and examines the effect of active and passive immunizations against oestradiol-17ℓ or oestrone on testicular maturation.

Bibliography: leaves 182-210.

Thesis (Dr. P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 1977. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 38-11, Section: B, page: 5304. Dissertation Abstracts International order no. 79-6549. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-173).

An important question in the analysis of fertility is does the type of marital union matter? Is women's fertility affected by their marital union type? Does being in a monogamous or polygynous union have any effect on the number of children women will have? What is the nature of this difference? Does the social setting play a role? And, what kind of role does it have? Most studies, especially those based on African societies, where polygyny is most prevalent, note that female fertility is negatively associated with polygyny. This dissertation examines the polygyny-fertility relationship among married women in a different social setting, namely in an oil-rich country, that is, the United Arab Emirates. Using data from the 1999 National Family Survey for the Characteristics of the Native Households in the UAE, I was able to examine the effect of fertility using two statistical methods to model my dependent variables: Logistic Regression and Negative Binomial Regression. My findings show that when controlling for numerous biological and social variables, polygyny has a positive effect on women?s current fertility, which is the likelihood of having a baby in the past 12 months, but a negative effect on women?s cumulative fertility, which is the children ever born to them. However, when the number of wives in the union was introduced into the models, polygyny effect on women?s current and cumulative fertility has disappeared, i.e., polygyny no longer has a significant effect on women?s fertility. I discuss the implications of these findings for UAE national policy to increase the fertility of UAE women, an important consideration given that UAE nationals comprise only 20 percent of the UAE population in 2005.

published_or_final_version / Statistics / Master / Master of Social Sciences

There is a general perception that fertility has been declining over a decade in Lesotho, and this has sparked the debate that fertility transition is drawing closer in Lesotho. The growing concern was stimulated by limited studies showing the effect of socio-economic factors on fertility in Lesotho and variations in proximate determinants. The paper examines recent fertility trends in Lesotho using various demographic techniques of fertility estimation and determines whether the onset of fertility transition has begun in Lesotho. The secondary aim is to assess and control errors in the Lesotho Demographic and Health Survey of 2004, thus providing robust and reliable estimates. The analysis utilizes the secondary data from 2004 Lesotho Demographic and Health Survey (LDHS). The data set comprised of a sample of 7095 women who participated in the survey. The use of 1996 Lesotho Population Census and 2002 Lesotho Reproductive and Health Survey were made to facilitate comparison with 2004 LDHS, and to provide differentials and measure changes over time in fertility. The P/F ratio method developed by Brass and the modified version, Relational Gompertz Model are employed and used to assess the quality of data as well as determining fertility levels and trends. The findings reveal that the overall fertility among women in Lesotho during 2004 LDHS is 4.02. Application of different methods depicts that fertility remains high in Lesotho, although considered moderate according to sub-Saharan standards. Despite the fact that TFR is high, overall fertility decline is evident. The estimates of fertility range between 3.5 and 5.6 depending on the technique in use. The reason for the high observed fertility is that women in the rural areas still cherish quite a substantial family size. Nevertheless, changing acceptance and perception of using contraception, delayed marriage, high levels of education and economic development among women in Lesotho contributes considerably to fertility declines in Lesotho. As a result, disparities that continue to propel fertility levels within population groups incite reassessment of existing research and policy so as to enhance development strategies as well as action programmes. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College, 2011.

This thesis studies different aspects of reproductive behaviour on the international, national, and local levels in post-communist countries. The main focus is Ukraine, where fertility rates are very low and the population is in severe decline. The studies contribute new knowledge about the applicability of a family policy typology developed on the basis of Western countries’ experience for post-communist countries, and about the influence of family policies on fertility levels in these countries. Moreover, the studies investigate whether and how macro-level influences impact on individuals’ reproductive behaviour. Four articles are included in the thesis: Family policies in Ukraine and Russia in comparative perspective analyses the institutional set-up of family policies in both countries and compares the findings to 31 other countries. The results show that Ukrainian family policies support a male-breadwinner type of family, while the benefit levels of Russian family policies are low, compelling families to rely on relatives or the childcare market. Family policies and fertility - Examining the link between family policy institutions and fertility rates in 33 countries 1995-2010 comparatively explores whether family policies have an effect on fertility rates across the case-countries. Pooled time-series regression analysis demonstrates that gender-egalitarian family policies are connected to higher fertility rates, but that this effect is smaller at higher rates of female labour force participation. To have or not to have a child? Perceived constraints on childbearing in a lowest-low fertility context investigates the influence of the perception of postmodern values, childcare availability and environmental pollution on individuals’ fertility intentions in a city in Eastern Ukraine. It is shown that women who already have a child perceive environmental pollution as a constraint on their fertility intentions. Prevalence and correlates of the use of contraceptive methods by women in Ukraine in 1999 and 2007 examines changes in the prevalence and the correlates of the use of contraceptive methods. The use of modern contraceptive methods increased during the period and the use of traditional methods decreased, while the overall prevalence did not change. Higher exposure to messages about family planning in the media is correlated with the use of modern contraceptive methods.

This thesis explores how fertility clinics engage in various textual and visual strategies to locate nature and kinship in the context of the assisted conception technologies they offer. In particular, competing paradigms of modern technology solving problems of the body versus the “naturalness” of having a baby means that fertility clinics must mobilize particular understandings of nature and technology to bridge this gap. Additionally, fertility clinics draw upon culturally meaningful themes such as “birds and bees” to structure relationships among assisted conception technology participants. I argue that fertility clinic websites are public sites of discourse through which clinics both attempt to attract potential clients and shape understanding of assisted conception technology by offering particular explanations as real and natural.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography : leaves 208-223.

BACKGROUND: The long-term decline in cohort fertility in highly developed countries has been widely documented. However, no systematic analysis has investigated which parity contributed most to the fertility decline to low and very low levels. Objective: We examine how the contribution of changing parity progression ratios varied across cohorts, countries, and broader regions in Europe, North America, Australia, and East Asia. We pay special attention to countries that reached very low completed cohort fertility, below 1.75 children per woman. Methods: Using population censuses and large-scale surveys for 32 low fertility countries, we decompose the change in completed cohort fertility among women born between 1940 and 1970. The decomposition method takes into account the sequential nature of childbearing as a chain of transitions from lower to higher parities. Results: Among women born between 1940 and 1955, the fertility decline was mostly driven by reductions in the progression ratios to third and higher-order births. By contrast, among women born between 1955 and 1970, changes in fertility showed distinct regional patterns: In Central and Eastern Europe they were fuelled by falling second-birth rates, whereas in the German-speaking countries, Southern Europe, and East Asia decreases in first-birth rates played the major role. Conclusions: Pathways to low and very low fertility show distinct geographical patterns, which reflect the diversity of the cultural, socioeconomic, and institutional settings of low fertility countries. Contribution: Our study highlights the importance of analysing parity-specific components of fertility in order to understand fertility change and variation. We demonstrate that similar low levels of completed cohort fertility can result from different combinations of parity-specific fertility rates.