Explains how the growing trend toward having children but failing to marry is a sign of impending disaster for U.S. society. It argues that, although cultures differ, those that survive do so by being built on a foundation of marriage and examines why this is so. (GLR)

Examines infant mortality rates in the District of Columbia and explains the causes. Comparisons are made between infant deaths in the district and in the United States as a whole, infant mortality rate differences by socioeconomic class and between blacks versus whites, and the influence of low rates of prenatal care and illegitimacy. (GLR)

Examines the effect of birth order on child development, noting that spacing of children, gender, family size, and family configuration all play a role in determining what effect birth order will have. The article looks at various traits of firstborn, middle, lastborn, and only children. (SM)

Found a divergence of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan fertility rates in the 1970-80 decade but renewed convergence since 1980. Metro-nonmetro differences widened in that nonmetro women 20-24 years of age had higher rates of first and second births but also in that metro women over 30 years of age had higher rates of first and second births. (KS)

Responses to a questionnaire completed by 800 male and female high school students in southern California supported the hypothesis that increased family size contributes to delinquent behavior, especially for females. Parental influence in large families is often diluted. Children of large families are more influenced by peers. (DM)

Interviewed social workers in Nigeria and 127 patients suffering from childbirth injuries of vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), debilitating and chronic condition whereby woman leaks urine uncontrollably and experiences grave social consequences. Crisis intervention, social rehabilitation, fighting stigma, and discharge planning similar to American…

Examined effects of sisters' and girlfriends' sexual and childbearing behavior on early adolescent girls' sexual outcomes. Findings from 455 girls indicated that number of sexually active girlfriends, number of sexually active sisters, and presence of adolescent childbearing sister were positively associated with permissive sexual attitudes,…

Explores whether the effects of sibling birth are mediated by associated changes in the family environment and changes in family members' interaction patterns. Data from a national longitudinal survey indicate that the birth of a sibling lessened positive interactions with the older child and mothers increasingly adopted controlling parenting…

A study of 70 pregnant working mothers before and six months after childbirth found that traditional gender-role values and perceived spousal preference influenced their employment intention before giving birth. Employment intention and spouse's income influenced return to employment after childbirth. (SK)

Investigates the influence of birth order with parenting style, age spacing, gender, and socioeconomic status on the Myers-Briggs attitude scales of Extroversion/Introversion and Judging/Perceiving. Results indicate that age spacing interacted with birth order to influence Extroversion/Introversion scores. Parenting style and gender interacted…

The authors respond to critiques of their investigation of whether birth order reliably contributes to variance in intelligence, concluding that little in the critiques challenges the original position that cross-sectional data are suspect as evidence for within-family trends in intelligence. When looking inside families and directly comparing the…

Children of Mexican American women, especially immigrants, have unexpectedly good birth weights. A study of 3,710 Mexican American, Black, and White children aged 3-4, who completed the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, found birth weight was not a powerful predictor of child cognitive development, nor did it explain pronounced racial and…

Compared arousal during peekaboo game of low birthweight infants with higher or lower perinatal risk to that of healthy full-term infants. Found that low birthweight babies showed less positive arousal, more negative arousal, and three mixtures of behavioral cues than full-term babies, who showed strong positive and negative responses. Perinatal…

Tests the developmental lag hypothesis, which assumes that a surface pattern of reading difficulties should be attributed to a general developmental delay. Compares a sample of very low birth weight children with a group of same-age, normal readers. Provides further evidence that a surface pattern of reading difficulty should be attributed to a…

This study examined the implications of family time for first-born and second-born adolescent offspring, mothers, and fathers in 192 dual-earner families, defining family time as time shared by the foursome in activities across 7 days. Data were gathered in daily telephone interviews. For first-borns, higher levels of family time at Time 1…