Intermarriage and the demography of secularization

One way of measuring religious affiliation is to look at rites of initiation such as baptism. English statistics show that for the first time since the Church of England was founded, less than half the nation is Anglican on this criterion. The pattern of formal religious transmission changed during the Second World War. Previously christening was quasi-universal, and the Church of England was the preferred provider. By the end of the war baptism was evidently optional, and chosen principally by parents whose religious identities matched. Further analysis suggests that affiliation now tends to be lost following marriage to someone from a different religious background, though the USA differs from Europe in this respect. A demographic theory of advanced secularization is outlined that specifies a proximal cause for declining religious affiliation, and provides tools for predicting the changes to be expected over future decades. The theory also helps to explain why affiliation may fall most quickly where there is most religious diversity.

The proximate determinants of the decline to below-replacement fertility in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Between 1990 and 2000, the total fertility rate (TFR) in Ethiopia declined moderately from 6.4 to 5.9 children per woman of reproductive age. During the same period, the TFR in the capital city of Addis Ababa declined from 3.1 to 1.9 children per woman. Even more striking than the magnitude of this decline is that it occurred in the absence of a strong and effective national family planning program. In this study, the components of this fertility decline are identified using the Bongaarts framework of the proximate determinants of fertility. The results of a decomposition analysis indicate that a decrease in the age-specific proportions of women who are married, followed by an increase in contraceptive use are the most important mechanisms by which fertility has declined in Addis Ababa. Poor employment prospects and relatively high housing costs are likely factors that encourage couples to delay marriage and reduce marital fertility.

Marriages in approved premises and register offices in England and Wales: the proportions of couples who marry away from home

This article analyses how one of the two new facilities of the Marriage Act 1994 has been used in practice; the extent to which couples marry with a civil wedding in registration districts in which neither party resides--"away marriages". The Act made these "away marriages" possible for the first time from the beginning of 1995. Using two samples of marriages in England and Wales in 1998, the numbers and characteristics of away marriages are contrasted between those solemnized in approved premises and those in register offices. Comparisons are also made between "home marriages" and "away marriages".

Changes in the distribution of marital age differences in England and Wales, 1963 to 1998

Assumptions about the 'typical' age gap between spouses underlie much social policy (e.g. the five-year difference in men's and women's state pension ages). In order to test the basis for these assumptions, detailed marriage registration statistics were obtained for 1963 and 1998, for England and Wales. Age differences between spouses were calculated and analysed by year, age at marriage and previous marital status. The median age gap hardly changed between 1963 and 1998 but this concealed considerable increase in the proportion of marriages where the man was younger than the woman or--to a lesser extent--where the man was six or more years older.

Emergent properties in small-scale societies

A multi-agent simulation is used to explore the relationship between the micro and the macro levels in small-scale societies. The simulation demonstrates, using an African hunter-gatherer group (the !Kung san) as a case study, the way in which population stability may arise from culturally framed, micro-level decision making by women about spacing of births. According to the simulation, population stability as an emergent property has different implications, depending on resource density. Data on Australian hunter-gatherer groups are presented that support the implications of the simulation. !Kung san micro-level cultural rules on incestuous marriages are shown to have macro-level consequences in the form of marriages between residential camps. Between-camp marriages have significant implications for access to resources and thereby for population dynamics of the group as a whole.

The prevalence and correlates of consanguineous marriages in Yemen: similarities and contrasts with other Arab countries

Using data on 9762 women from the 1997 Yemen Demographic and Maternal and Child Health Survey, this paper examines the prevalence and socioeconomic correlates of consanguineous marriages in Yemen. The results indicate that 40% of marriages are consanguineous, over 85% of which are between first cousins. The prevalence of consanguineous marriages appears to have increased over time, particularly for the last marriage cohort. As for socioeconomic correlates, the study confirms the inverse association between consanguineous marriages and women's education and occupation, age at marriage and economic status. However, no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of consanguinity has been found by place of residence and geographical region. Somewhat unexpected results have been obtained by husband's background characteristics, with higher educated men and those working in the modern sector of the economy being more likely to be married to cousins.

Seasonality of births is associated with seasonality of marriages in Malta

This study was carried out to quantify secular trends in seasonal variation in births in Malta, a small Mediterranean country where the vast proportion of births occur in wedlock due to a predominantly Roman Catholic population. It also related such variations to seasonal variation in marriages. Annual seasonal peaks of marriages and births were analysed over the period 1950-1996 by X11 ARIMA. A significant peak in marriages (n = 111,932) in the third quarter of the year was found for almost the entire period under study. This was paralleled by a peak in births (n = 299,558) for the period 1970-1996, which lagged after the peak in marriages by 13-14 months. For the period 1994-1996, when monthly data for monthly pregnancies were available by pregnancy order, the peak in births was caused by first pregnancies only. Seasonal patterns in births occur almost universally due to cultural and/or biometeorological factors. The best known patterns include those of the southern United States, where births decline in April and May, and in northern Europe, where births peak in March and April. In Malta, the late summer peak in births appears to be due to a practical and planned approach by Maltese couples to contraceptive planning, probably influenced by the Roman Catholic ethos and social pressures, with unprotected intercourse occurring only after marriage. In Malta, birth control, albeit by so-called natural methods, was introduced in the 1960s. Prior to this period, births peaked towards the beginning/end of the year, and this may be the more natural seasonality of births in Malta.

Emergent patterns of mate choice in human populations

We present a model of human mate choice that shows how realistic population-level patterns of assortative mating can self-organize and emerge from the behavior of individuals using simple mate search rules. In particular, we model plausible psychological mechanisms for mate search and choice in a realistic social ecology. Through individual interactions, patterns emerge that match those observed in typical human societies, particularly with regard to correlated quality levels within couples, distributions of the ages at which couples mate, and effects of skewed sex ratios on these mating age distributions.

Forecasting the nursing home population

OBJECTIVE

To forecast growth in the US nursing home population, as a function of trends in disability and marriage.

METHODS

Nursing home residence is modeled as a function of disability status, marital status, and other demographic covariates. Our predictions for nursing home residence are built upon joint forecasts of marriage and disability. We use data from the 1992 to 1996 Medicare Current Beneficiary Surveys, which are individual-level data sets designed to be representative of the US population older than the age of 65.

RESULTS

Today's young cohorts will have higher rates and levels of institutionalization than their older counterparts. This will reverse several decades of decline in rates of disability and institutionalization. The nursing home population is likely to be 10-25% higher than would be suggested by a simple extrapolation of past declines in disability.

CONCLUSIONS

In recent years, the rate of institutionalization among the elderly has been falling. It is predicted that this trend will reverse itself within the next decade, and that we will see substantial increases in the incidence of institutionalization among the elderly. This result is generated by our prediction of rising disability among the younger cohorts that are beginning to approach old age.

The impact of the changing marital structure on fertility of Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region)

Hong Kong SAR has experienced an especially rapid fall in fertility over the course of just two decades. The total fertility rate (TFR) fell steadily from the replacement level (i.e. two children per woman) to 0.83 in 1999, which is the lowest in the world. (United Nations Population Division. Replacement migration: is it a solution to declining and ageing populations? United Nations, New York, 2000.) An important question is whether the dramatic decline in the TFR results from a decline in the fertility of married women or from changes in the proportion ever married. Are married women having fewer children, or are there simply fewer married women of prime childbearing age? In this paper, the effects of the changing marital structure on the conventional TFR are identified so that the underlying trends in fertility can be assessed. The study shows that the large decline in the TFR between 1981 and 1999 was in great part distorted by tempo effects, distortions caused by changes in the timing of childbearing and the changing marital structure. Without the distortion induced by the decreasing proportion of women marrying in the prime childbearing years, the decline in fertility was essentially less significant over the 20-year period. A continuation in the downward trend in the proportion married is a strong probability in the light of marriage habits prevalent among the population. This will exert a continuing downward driving force on the TFR. Hong Kong will experience its fertility rate decline further in the short to medium term. The study investigates the effect of long-lasting below-replacement level fertility with a view to gaining some analytical insight into the situation should the population experience such a striking demographic process.

Marriage: an evolutionary perspective

Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young. So marriage functions as a reproductive social arrangement that traditionally involved the extended family. The sexes are not identical in their biological contributions to children's survival, so they seek somewhat different attributes in a mate. Men seek a young, attractive, sexually faithful bride. Women seek a man who is older, taller, and (as in many other species) socially dominant. Both sexes prefer a kind, healthy, attractive, similar mate who is emotionally attached to them. A spouse who fails to maintain sufficiently high mate value is vulnerable to divorce. Infertility and sexual dissatisfaction predict divorce, as does death of a child, but the more children, the stabler the marriage. Cross-cultural data suggest that cruel or subdominant men (e.g., poor providers) and unfaithful women are prone to divorce. Marriages in which the wife dominates the husband in economic contributions, nonverbal behavior, and decision making tend to be less satisfying. In societies in which wives are economically independent of husbands, divorce rates are high. As women's economic power has risen with industrialization, divorce rates have climbed. Economic and fitness considerations also help explain cultural differences in polygyny, age at marriage, arranged marriage, concern with the bride's sexual chastity, and marriage ceremonies. Other factors also affect marital dynamics, such as state subsidies to families, the sex ratio, and influence of the couple's parents.

[The analysis of the surnames and intermarriages of the suburbanites of Shanghai]

The origins of the suburban native of shanghai are varied. With the methods of correlation analysis and principal analysis, we random sampled the surnames of 13 villages and towns located in the districts of Shanghai, and found that Jading, Pudong, Nanhui and the east part of Fengxian make up the group of northeast part, while Jinshan, Songjiang, Qingpu and Chongming make up a completely different one from the other. The surnames of Nanxiang's origin are complex, while Maqiao and Jinhui's are of special kind. The surnames recorded in pedigree have apparent correlation with the modern ones. Moreover, the surnames of northeast part are mainly derived from the areas north to Yangtze River, but those of southwest part come from the areas south to Yangtze River. This explains that the origins of the two districts' throng may be different. The residents of the northeast part, which formed land comparatively recent, probably came from north areas after Tang and Song periods, while those of southeast part came from other northern areas. The residents of shell bar districts such as Maqiao and Jinhui have inherited relation with the culture of remote antiquities of Maqia. The contributing factors of surname are diversified. By researching into the scope of intermarriage of 20th century in Jinhui, we found that before 70's, the intermarriage radius was fixed in 5 kilometers because of match maker custom; in the 70's & 80's, unrestrained love reduced the intermarriage radius into same village about 3 kilometers; after in 90's, the intermarry radius expand to every province because of the rapid social and economic development. The intermarriage scope and consanguinity natural diffuseness can stand for the situations in shanghai and in large parts of south China. The assimilation of adjacent villages under matchmaker custom takes over 2000 years, while takes over 7000 years under unrestrained love. We can see that the impact of the natural diffuseness is rather weak, and the mixed living of emigrants is the main factor. The history of every colony's adjacent living is far shorter than that of assimilation. So there is almost no mixed race in this period. The most parts of south China's situations should be similar. The broken of traditional intermarry suggests us that the auto-disappear speed of abundant genetic resource is high. It is now the most pressure time to gather and research our genetic resource.

Changing family structure in a modernizing society: a study of marriage patterns in a single Muslim village in Israel

Among 1,875 couples from one Muslim village, 374 (20%) marriages were between first cousins. Among women born after 1920, the highest rates of first-cousin marriages were observed among those born between 1940-1959 (26%) and this pattern declined in the last two decades. The majority of first-cousin marriages were between offspring of brothers. Analyzed by 20-year periods, the pattern of first-cousin marriages changed as the proportion of marriages between brothers' children decreased from 75% to 44%. Over the study period, more than 70% of marriages were between individuals born in the village and related to some degree. Examination of the marriages in which both spouses were born in the village demonstrated a preference to marry within the extended family; 68% of the women married a man with the same family name. Since the creation of the Israeli State, there have been significant changes among Israeli-Arab citizens. However, these data demonstrate that the tradition of marrying a relative remains central, although some changes in marriage preference have occurred.

Contribution of social and cultural factors to the decline in consanguinity in south India

The data from the National Family Health Survey, 1992-1993, show that the extent of consanguinity is high (34.7 percent) in South India; 26.2 percent of women married close blood relatives, and 8.5 percent of women married distant blood relatives. A definite downward trend in the proportion of marriages between close blood relatives is observed. Education, age at marriage, religion and caste, and urban-rural childhood residence have significant independent effects on consanguinity. The multinomial logistic regression analysis reveals that in South India the downward trend in the proportion of marriages between close blood relatives is entirely explained by rising age at marriage and women's education over time.

Cohabitation, marriage, divorce, and remarriage in the United States

OBJECTIVES

This report presents national estimates of the probabilities of marital and cohabitation outcomes for women 15-44 years of age in 1995, by a wide variety of individual- and community-level characteristics. The life-table analysis in this report takes a life cycle approach to estimate the probabilities that: a woman will marry for the first time, an intact first cohabitation will make the transition to marriage, a first cohabitation will end in separation, a first marriage will end in separation or divorce, a disrupted first marriage will be followed by a new cohabitation, a separation from first marriage will result in divorce, a divorce from first marriage will be followed by remarriage, and a second marriage will end in separation or divorce.

METHODS

The life-table estimates presented here are based on a nationally representative sample of women 15-44 years of age in the United States in 1995 from the National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle 5.

RESULTS

The analyses show that various individual and community-level characteristics are related to the marital and cohabitational outcomes examined in this report. The results consistently demonstrate that the cohabitations and marriages of non-Hispanic black women are less stable than those of non-Hispanic white women. An analysis of trends over time suggests that differences by race/ethnicity are becoming more pronounced in recent years. Racial differences observed are associated with individual characteristics and with the characteristics of the communities in which the women live.

Trends in patrilineal parallel first cousin marriages among Israeli Arabs: 1949-1995

BACKGROUND

Consanguineous marriages are one of the means by which lineal clans maintain themselves. As it happens, there is a biological price to be paid for consanguinity, which is strongly felt particularly in populations where mortality is low.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

This study seeks to estimate trends in consanguinity among the Muslim and Druze populations of Israel during the period 1949-1995.

METHODS

The Israel Population Register is a continuously updated disk record of all current and former citizens. A copy of this record, as of 31 October 1995, was used to construct a file of all Muslim and Druze marriages that had taken place between 1949 and 1995. The marriage records include the given names of the paternal grandfathers of husband and wife. Couples whose grandfathers have the same name may be parallel patrilineal first cousins. A probability algorithm was constructed which provides an estimate, for each name, of how many of these couples are in fact first cousins. The estimates are then summed over all names to provide a population estimate. This procedure was carried out separately by religion, marriage period and region.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Statistically significant declines in consanguinity were found for the Muslim populations of northern Israel, since 1965, and for Jerusalem, since 1949. For the Bedouin of the Negev only a temporary decline was found, for a short time after the reopening of the borders with Gaza, Sinai and the West Bank in 1967. Significant declines in consanguinity were also found for the Druze of northern Israel, after 1982. It is considered, though not demonstrated, that the secular declines are associated with increasing levels of education and urbanization known to have occurred in these populations.

Estimation of inbreeding from ecclesiastical dispensations: application of three procedures to a Spanish case

The inbreeding coefficient of a population, estimated from ecclesiastical Roman Catholic dispensations, results from the relative contribution of different degrees of relationships (uncle-niece, first cousin, etc.). The interpopulation comparisons of consanguinity patterns may be obscured by the fact that in 1918 the Roman Catholic Church norm regulating the closest marriageable kinship was modified, limiting the application for an ecclesiastical dispensation to relatives of third degree (second cousins) or closer. Depending on the length of the period before or after the change of regulation, coefficients and rates may differ. Deviation of frequencies for multiple marriages may also occur. The aim of the present paper is to determine how the chosen procedure based on ecclesiastical dispensations may affect results, regarding the inbreeding coefficient, the consanguinity rate, the structure of consanguinity and the close/remote kinship ratio. As a sample case, information from the Gredos mountain range (central Spain) has been used.

Promoting marriage as welfare policy: looking at a public role in private lives

This paper discusses the interest in and politics surrounding government's using welfare reform legislation to carve out a stronger role in promoting marriage. It examines trends in family formation, their impact on society, and the effect of single parenting, divorce, and step-parenting on child well-being. The paper also looks at the treatment of marriage in current government programs, new state activities to promote marriage, proposals for a stronger government role, and marriage experts' expectations for the success of marriage education programs.

Evolutionary adaptations to pre-eclampsia/eclampsia in humans: low fecundability rate, loss of oestrus, prohibitions of incest and systematic polyandry

Gestational-hypertension/pre-eclampsia occurs in approximately 10% of human pregnancies. This persistent complication of pregnancy has been reported to occur more frequently in couples conceiving very shortly after the beginning of their sexual relationship and/or after a change in paternity. Primipaternity may be the leading cause of pre-eclampsia in women under 30 years of age when genetic susceptibility to cardio-vascular disease has not yet been expressed, especially in women before their twenties, who for the last 40,000 years have perhaps comprised the age group when the majority of parturients classified as Homo sapiens sapiens initiated their reproductive life. In terms of evolution, the prevalence of pre-eclampsia represents a distinct reproductive disadvantage in humans as compared with other mammals. Indeed, pre-eclampsia is a consequence of the defect of the normal human-specific deep endovascular invasion of the trophoblast. The large size of the human fetal brain imposing this deep trophoblastic invasion induced the need for major immunogenetic compromises in terms of paternal-maternal tissue tolerance. The price that mankind has had to pay to adapt to the pre-eclampsia risk is a low fecundability rate and therefore loss of oestrus, possibly a step in the deviation between apes and hominids. Further, pre-eclampsia risk may be a contributing factor leading to the rejection of systematic polyandry in human societies and have influenced prohibition of incest.

The death of "Till death us do part": the transformation of pair-bonding in the 20th century

During the last half of the 20th century within Western civilization, for the first time in human history, divorce replaced death as the most common endpoint of marriage. In this article I explore the history of this death-to-divorce transition, the forces associated with the transition, and what the transition may have revealed about the human capacity for monogamous, lifelong pair-bonding. The impact and consequences of the transition for the generations that came of age during it and immediately afterwards are examined, with particular attention to the emergence of new, alternative pair-bonding structures such as cohabitation and nonmarital co-parenting. The article highlights the inability of the dichotomous marriage-versus-being-single paradigm to encompass the new pair-bonding structures and the normalizing of divorce. Precepts for a new, more encompassing, veridical and humane pair-bonding paradigm are presented, and some of their implications for social policy, family law, social science, and couple and family therapy are elaborated.

Predicting the Italian suicide rate for 1864-1962

For the period 1864-1962, Italian suicide rates were negatively associated with birth and death rates.

Clinical outcomes of consanguineous marriages in Turkey

Turkey has a high rate of consanguineous marriages. Different nationwide surveys indicate that today 20-25% of marriages are consanguineous, with the rate having increased over the last 15 years. The results of many studies show that the rate of consanguinity among parents of children with rare recessive diseases is quite above Turkey's average and that the high consanguinity rate is one of the underlying factors of high infant and child mortality and fertility in Turkey.

Consanguineous marriage among the Fulani

The Fulani are a broad ethnic category of nomadic and seminomadic pastoralists and agropastoralists living in the semiarid Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa. The Fulani are patrilineal, patrilocal, and moderately polygynous, with arranged first marriages accompanied by the payment of bridewealth, ideally in the form of cattle. Consanguineous marriage is frequent, with first or second cousin marriage preferred. In this paper we present data on levels of consanguineous marriage among the Fulani of northern Burkina Faso and test the hypothesis that inbreeding may be more frequent when there is a scarcity of cattle available, since bridewealth demands are thought to be reduced with close-kin marriage. Among 308 women's marriages, 203 (65.8%) were between kin up to and including second cousins, and 102 (33.1%) were between nonkin. Among 276 men's marriages, 196 (71.0%) were between kin up to and including second cousins, and 77 (27.9%) were between nonkin. The mean population inbreeding coefficient (alpha) was 0.0355 for women, and 0.0374 for men. No increase was found in population levels of inbreeding estimated from marriages contracted after the droughts of 1973 and 1984, which drastically reduced the Fulani's cattle stocks. However, a significantly higher rate of consanguineous marriage was found in families owning the fewest cattle.

Biodemographic study of a central Apennine area (Italy) in the 19th and 20th centuries: marriage seasonality and reproductive isolation

This study investigates seasonality of marriages and reproductive isolation in six long-isolated communities in the central Apennines (Italy). It had two objectives: (1) the identification of an Apennine biodemographic model in comparison with mountain communities of other regions, and with non-Apennine communities in Abruzzo, and (2) to identify the possible effects of the drainage of Lake Fucino (1854-1876) on that area. Marriages in this region show two very stable seasonal patterns: one is typical of sedentary rural societies, with summer migrations and marriages preferentially celebrated in the winter, and the other has marriages that are strongly concentrated in the summer months, i.e. between 75% and 93.5% of marriages were celebrated between June and October in these communities in the 1800s. These were traditionally pastoral communities with winter transhumance of the flocks and their shepherds towards the lowlands of southern Italy. In both groups, restrictions imposed by the Catholic Church do not seem to have affected the timing of marriages. Indeed, economic factors related to work activities seem to have had more influence. Concerning reproductive isolation, the results show high rates of endogamy: between 85% and 98% in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Rates of consanguineous marriages were between 5% and 20%, and those of isonymous marriages rarely exceeded 9%. The coefficient of inbreeding a shows that there was a delayed, limited period of increased consanguinity in the few decades around the turn of the century. This is different from the national situation, and thus could be a consequence of the Lake Fucino drainage.

Migration through surnames in Campobasso Province, Italy

Data on grandparental surnames were obtained from school-children in 22 communes from Campobasso Province, Italy (Molise Region). The distribution of surnames was shown to be almost exactly linear by a log2-log2 transformation, which justified the fitting of the data to Fisher's logarithmic distribution. The values for v were higher among women. When v was standardized to minimize bias due to sample size, the value was one-third the estimate of migration from exogamy data. The higher values of v for females indicate that there is greater mobility of female marriage partners than males.

Trends in consanguinity in South India

This study uses data from the 1992-93 National Family Health Survey to assess trends in consanguinity in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, the frequency of consanguineous marriages is very low and one type of preferred marriage of the Dravidian marriage system uncle niece marriage--is conspicuously absent. In the other states of South India, consanguinity and the coefficient of inbreeding are high. While no change in consanguinity is observed during the past three to four decades in Karnataka, a definite decline is observed in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Due to recent changes in the demographic and social situation in these states, this decline in consanguinity is likely to continue.

Engaging distortions: are we idealizing marriage?

The present study was an investigation of the premarital status of engagement in terms of relationship satisfaction and marital expectations using the Evaluation and Nurturing Relationship Issues, Communication and Happiness (ENRICH) Marital Satisfaction Scale (EMS) and its two subscales of Idealistic Distortion (ID) and Marital Satisfaction (MS) (D. G. Fournier, D. H. Olson, & J. M. Druckman, 1983). There were 104 students (23 men and 81 women), of which 15 were married, 19 were engaged, and 70 had extended dating relationships. On average, participants had been in the relationship for 3.8 years, and the mean age was 22 years. Results demonstrated that individuals engaged to be married had significantly higher idealistic distortion scores (M = 86.89) than did either married individuals (M = 56.67) or those in extended dating relationships (M = 61.19). Finally, a negative relation was found between length of relationships and marital satisfaction subscores. Results are discussed in light of factors contributing to such idealized thinking.

Trends in fertility and contraception in the last quarter of the 20th century

The late 1960s and early 1970s saw major changes in access to birth control. This article reviews trends in fertility and contraception between 1976 when the Family Formation Survey was undertaken and 1998, the latest year for which data are available. There has been an increase in mean age at childbirth over the period. Some of this increase is possibly a result of childbearing in second and subsequent relationships when the women will be older on average. This also has had an impact on their patterns of contraception use. Teenage pregnancy is high on the Government's agenda. Teenage pregnancy continues at constant levels. As the estimated age of first intercourse decreases, there is a continued need for sufficient, accessible and appropriate family planning services.

Immigration, intermarriage, and the challenges of measuring racial/ethnic identities

This commentary reviews recent demographic trends in immigration and intermarriage that contribute to the complexity of measuring race and ethnicity. The census question on ancestry is proposed as a possible model for what we might expect with the race question in the 2000 census and beyond. Through the use of ancestry data, changes in ethnic identification by individuals over the course of their lives, by generation, and according to census question directions are documented. It is pointed out that the once-rigid lines that divided European-origin groups from one another have increasingly blurred. All of these changes are posited as becoming more likely for groups we now define as "racial." While it is acknowledged that race and ethnicity will become increasingly difficult to measure as multiple racial identities become more common and more likely to be reported, it is argued that monitoring discrimination is crucial for the continued collection of such data.

Demographic and behavioral determinants of the reduction of male-to-female birth ratio in Spain from 1981 to 1997

The ratio of male-to-female births has been declining in Spain since 1981. In the last few decades, the proportion of male newborns has also been decreasing in other industrialized countries. It has been hypothesized that these declines are due to environmental factors such as a longer exposure to environmental pollutants, hormonal levels, or sexual behavior. The objective of this study was to examine the evidence of decline in the male proportion of births in Spain and to correlate it to demographic causes (mother's age, marriage age, and age difference between husband and wife). The analysis was based on birth records in Spain from 1945 to 1997. The data show a significant correlation (p < 0.01) between the reduction in the ratio of male-to-female births observed and two variables, the variations in mean age at marriage and the older age at which women give birth. More women are delaying childbearing until their thirties and, as a consequence, there has been a decrease in the proportion of male newborns.

Trends in the frequencies of consanguineous marriages in the Israeli Arab community

To assess the trends in the frequency of consanguineous marriages in the Israeli Arab population in the last 40 years, we conducted a two-part study. For the first part, we re-analyzed data from a nationwide study carried out in 1992, and for the second part, we undertook a new survey in 1998 in four locations: Taibe, Tira, Kalansuwa and Kafr Bara. Data regarding the frequency of consanguineous marriage in these four locations for the years 1961-1985 was extracted from the original survey, and for the years 1986-1998, from new questionnaires. The frequency of consanguineous marriage was highest in the period 1961 1965 (50.6%), but by the period 1981-1985 it had decreased to 40.6%. Over the whole time span of the 1992 study, a significant decrease was observed between the periods 1961-1975 and 1976-1985 (p < 0.0001). In the four-location study, there was a significant decrease in the frequency of consanguineous marriage from 52.9%, in the period 1961-1970 to 32.8% in the period 1991-1998 (p = 0.0006). We conclude that the custom of consanguineous marriage in the studied population is still extremely high, and preventive measures should be taken to decrease its frequency and associated complications.

Social-demographic influence on first birth interval in China, 1980-1992

This study examines the delay between first marriage and first live birth in China among a sample of women who married between 1980 and 1992. Most couples in China only use contraception after the first child is born. Most sample women had their first child within 2 years of marriage. However, there are significant rural-urban differences in the first birth interval, indicating that there was most probably deliberate fertility regulation after marriage among many urban couples. Survival analysis shows that place of residence, level of education, age at first marriage and marriage cohort affect the first birth interval.