Focuses on the subject of preterm labor in hospitals in English- and French-speaking countries. The findings presented in this study undermine the widely held view that medical conditions can always be defined in objective scientific terms and that the words used to refer to them in different languages are labels that can be put into one-to-one…

Tested a hypothesis, based on S. Steinberg's (1989) theory of ethnicity, that blacks, especially those of Caribbean extraction, would have a higher illegitimacy rate, higher cohabitation rates, and more open attitudes toward sex because they do not have a norm of legitimacy. Data from the National Survey of Families and Households do not support…

This study examined mothers' attitudes toward pregnancy and outcomes of unwanted pregnancies in 1,454 women in Moscow (Russia). Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies greatly increased the risk of unfavorable pregnancy outcomes (especially prematurity and intrauterine developmental delay). The principal factor contributing to an unwanted pregnancy was…

Critiques recent research on the effects of birth order on intelligence and personality, which found that the between-family design revealed that birth order negatively related to intelligence, while the within-family design revealed that birth order was unrelated to intelligence. Suggests that it may not be intelligence that co-varies with birth…

Critiques Rodgers et al.'s June 2000 research on the relation between birth order and intelligence, which suggests that it is a methodological illusion. Explains how the intellectual environment and the teaching function (whereby older children tutor younger ones) contribute to the growth of intellectual maturity, the first negatively and the…

Discusses how in the literature of critical pedagogy, resistance theory analyzes, ranks, and judges the emancipatory value of writing behaviors, privileging nonreproductive and transformative consciousness over cultural reproduction. Notes that the ranking of consciousness and the central metaphor of "reproduction" too often are naively…

Study evaluated referrals of students (N=1,222) for special education from grades K-5 to determine if youngest children were experiencing a higher rate of referral. Data confirmed the hypothesis that children referred for evaluations within the 5- to 7-year-old-group had summer birthdates. Article discusses ways of providing educational services…

Examines the relation of scientific research on intelligence to issues of public policy by reviewing a critical analysis of the Infant Health and Development Program, an early intervention program for low birth weight infants. Early intervention research can play an important role in shaping public policy. (SLD)

Investigates the potential impact of statutory rape laws on teen fertility and initiation of sexual activity. Shows that misleading conclusions about the extent to which teen girls engage in sexual activities with older men may be drawn if these conclusions are based simply on data on births. States that successful enforcement of statutory rape…

At a southwestern public university, 242 students responded to a questionnaire about their credit-card use and attitudes. The results revealed that about 70 percent of the students held one or more credit cards, and about 10 percent had five or more credit cards. Twenty-two percent never kept copies of their charge slips, and only 49 percent paid…

Community attitudes toward birth fathers were examined using 82 exploratory qualitative interviews and 706 survey respondents in Canada. Community attitudes were more positive toward birth fathers raising their children over adoption, when birth mothers were unable or unwilling to parent the child. Overall, respondents considered birth fathers…

Life history theory provided a framework for examining the relations among child sexual abuse (CSA), childhood adversity, and patterns of reproductive development and behavior. A community survey that assessed CSA, life history variables (e.g., age of menarche), and social and family background was administered to 623 women (mean age=26.9 years).…

This paper proposes a blended experimental and quasi-experimental research strategy which we believe will help improve the external validity of evaluations of welfare reform and other social policies. We draw upon data from New Jersey's imposition of a family cap, where welfare benefits instead of increasing remained the same for women who…

We update and extend prior research on residential differences in women's family formation experiences using data from the 1995 cycle of the National Survey of Family Growth. Residential differences in the timing of family formation behaviors are examined, including first birth, first cohabitation, and first marriage. Our study emphasizes the…

Using evidence from demographic and survey data, this research examines how one decade of post-socialism has changed the life planning of young East German women. Aggregate data reflect marriage and fertility postponement and increased nonmarital birth rates and cohabitation. The analysis shows East German women's stubbornness (Dolling, 2003) in…