Indonesia has experienced three different political eras: ‘old order’ under the regime ofpresident Soekarno, ‘new order’ under the regime of president Soeharto; and ‘reformationera’ in which democracy has been applied until now. The changes of economic and politicalconditions from one era to another have always gone hand in hand with the development ofthe country’s population. Many social scientists argue that old order is closely associated tohigh mortality and high fertility rate following the regime’s economic failure. On thecontrary, together with socio-economic improvement, family planning program, as one of theproduct of Soeharto regime, is often considered to be a great success in reducing thecountry’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) from 5.6 in the mid 60’s to 2.4 in the late 90’s beforeanother economic crisis hit the country. As Soeharto resigned in 1998, the national socioeconomyhas been changing to a great extent. This writing weighs the role of economicdevelopment on Indonesian women childbearing behavior from 1999 to 2007 given thedemographic differences. In doing so, I analyze individual-level data which contains evermarriedwomen’s detailed life-course history of childbearing and test the parity-specificeffect of women’s economic status development on their childbearing behavior through eventhistory analysis (proportional hazard regression), given the socio-demographic differences inIndonesia. This thesis suggests that since 1999, the role of socio-economic developmentposes a stronger effect than cultural and religious differences in determining the trend ofwomen’s childbearing behavior. Especially education has very strong positive effect tochildbearing.

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Early exposure of adolescents to sexual intercourse has given rise to an increase in adolescent pregnancy and childbearing, a situation that has proved to have both economic, social and health implications not only for the adolescent mother but also for her child. Using data from the 2004, Lesotho Demographic and Health Survey (LDHS, 2004), this study examines the effect of household characteristics on adolescent childbearing in Lesotho. The analyses done at three levels were based on a sample of 1,230, never married adolescents aged 15 to 19 years who had either always lived in the present residence or moved to the residence before age thirteen. The sample was a sub-sample from the dataset of all women of reproductive age interviewed during the survey. Logistic regression models were used to check for the odds of adolescent premarital births. The results show that only about seven percent of adolescents in the sample had premarital births. The older adolescents (18 and 19 years old) had the highest rates of premarital births, 14 and 19 percent respectively, indicating that the risk of premarital birth increases with age. The odds of premarital births was higher among adolescents that had first sexual intercourse at age 15 years or younger, and had achieved primary education or less. The results also showed the strong influence characteristics of co-resident women have on the behavior of adolescents. For instance, adolescents co-residing with an older woman that had had a premarital birth or first birth as a teenager, or who were separated or divorced, had higher odds of premarital births. The likelihood of adolescent premarital birth was found to be higher in households that were headed by females as well as in large households. The findings of this study have implications for programs designed to reduce adolescent pregnancy and childbearing. Most interventions to date, to reduce adolescent premarital pregnancy and childbearing, have focused primarily on adolescents themselves. The findings of this study shows that certain household characteristics influence adolescent premarital births and should therefore be taken into account in designing interventions to reduce adolescent premarital childbearing.

In South African law, childbearing is not a right for working women. A few mother takes maternity leave at her own risk. She has no legal guarantee of getting her job back. With high unemployment she may not find another job at all.

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Expecting to become pregnant or to get someone pregnant in the near future separates adolescents in terms of both their current circumstances and future experiences. Drawing on life course, social control, and reasoned action perspectives, this study examined the predictors and outcomes of adolescents’ pregnancy expectations in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, emphasizing non-linearity in the meaning and implications of such expectations during a critical period when youths’ future plans begin to change from hypothetical ideas to actual realities. The results suggested that the number and type of risky behaviors during adolescence were associated with an increased level of pregnancy expectations that, in turn, predicted later childbearing. Importantly, risky behaviors also moderated the link between pregnancy expectations in adolescence and fertility in young adulthood, with childbearing more likely to follow split expectations when youth also engaged in risky behavior. These patterns did not vary substantially by gender. / text

Background: The influence of religion on demographic behaviors has been extensively studied mainly for Abrahamic religions. Although Buddhism is the world´s fourth largest religion and is dominant in several Asian nations experiencing very low fertility, the impact of Buddhism on childbearing has received comparatively little research attention. Objective: This paper draws upon a variety of data sources in different countries in Asia in order to test our hypothesis that Buddhism is related to low fertility. Methods: Religious differentials in terms of period fertility in three nations (India, Cambodia and Nepal) and cohort fertility in three case studies (Mongolia, Thailand and Japan) are analyzed. The analyses are divided into two parts: descriptive and multivariate analyses. Results: Our results suggest that Buddhist affiliation tends to be negatively or not associated with childbearing outcomes, controlling for education, region of residence, age and marital status. Although the results vary between the highly diverse contextual and institutional settings investigated, we find evidence that Buddhist affiliation or devotion is not related to elevated fertility across these very different cultural settings. Conclusions: Across the highly diverse cultural and developmental contexts under which the different strains of Buddhism dominate, the effect of Buddhism is consistently negatively or insignificantly related to fertility. These findings stand in contrast to studies of Abrahamic religions that tend to identify a positive link between religiosity and fertility.

This thesis explores the impact of educational enrolment on family formation in Sweden. The aim is to identify factors that are important for students’ childbearing and to find potential explanations as to why so few students have children while enrolled in education. Three independent studies are carried out, two quantitative and one qualitative. Study I examines the associations between age, earnings, a student financial aid reform, and female students’ first, second and third birth risks. Study II takes a gender perspective and compares the influence of mothers’ and fathers’ enrolment and earnings on parental couples’ propensities to have a second or a third child. In both these studies the analyses are performed using longitudinal register data. Study III explores male and female students’ childbearing intentions, and the motivations behind them, through individual in-depth interviews with childless students. Several findings point towards the significance of economic factors. The results in Study I show that earnings have a clear impact on female students’ birth risks, and in Study III economic security is found to be an important motive behind the students’ childbearing intentions. However, the student financial aid reform investigated in Study I had no noticeable impact on students’ childbearing behaviour. The negative effect of educational enrolment on childbearing risks, as well as the significance of earnings and economic security, is clearly weakened by age. In addition to economic security, the interview accounts indicate that non-material aspects, such as the biological risks of postponement, knowing one’s future prospects and being content with life, are also important for the timing of childbearing. The implications of educational enrolment for family formation are also found to be largely dependent on gender, as in Study II mothers’ educational enrolment had a much stronger negative impact on couples’ continued childbearing than fathers’ enrolment. Further, compared to the males, the female respondents in Study III had much more knowledge about the parental leave system, and parental leave and their benefit level were also things they took into account to a much larger extent when discussing their childbearing intentions. The gender differences are likely associated with the Swedish earnings-related parental leave insurance and mothers still taking the largest part of the leave. The fact that both economic security and the biological risks associated with postponement are seen as crucial factors for timing of family formation implies that some students, particularly females above age 30, find themselves in a difficult situation. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>

Approximately 500,000 women in the US suffer from postpartum depression (PPD) every year. Yet only half of women affected seek treatment. PPD affects the entire family unit, altering parenting behaviors and increasing prevalence of depression among male partners of women suffering from PPD. In addition, infants whose mothers suffer from PPD have a higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and more frequent hospitalization as well as cognitive and behavioral delays. Despite the significance of PPD to the health of women and families, most research has focused on the identification and treatment of PPD. Research pertaining to intrapartum events as possible risk factors for PPD has been contradictory and variable in quality. The purpose of this study is to examine possible relationships between intrapartum events and subsequent incidence of postpartum depression.The Diathesis-Stress Model provides the foundation for this proposed research, in which a combination of vulnerability factors (diatheses) in the context of life events (stress) results in psychopathology (PPD). Vulnerability factors such as previous history of depression, prenatal anxiety, or low self esteem may interact with intrapartum stressors such as cesarean section, induction of labor, or use of pain medication to increase PPD symptomatology. This study will examine the stress component of the Diathesis-Stress Model.The study design was a retrospective descriptive design aimed at identifying relationships between intrapartum events and PPD. A chart review was performed to identify intrapartum events and scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at two- and six- weeks postpartum. The sample consisted of 102 women who delivered at a specified rural New England birthing center during 2007.Nurses commonly interface with women in health care settings and are uniquely poised to educate them about PPD. Nurses have the unique opportunity to alert women to the potential risk for PPD and encourage them to report signs and symptoms early. Increased reporting of symptoms can reduce the number of unidentified cases and promote interventions that avert some of the devastating emotional, physical, and economic consequences.