Social and Behavioral Sciences | Open Access Articles

Female Genital Cutting Among The Somali Of Kenya And Management Of Its Complications, Jaldesa Guyo, Ian Askew, Carolyne Njue, Monica Wanjiru

Reproductive Health

The Somali community living in Kenya (and in their native Somalia) has practiced the severest form of female genital cutting (FGC)—infibulation—for centuries. To understand the context within which the practice takes place, and how its complications are managed, the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program undertook a diagnostic study that confirmed that FGC is a deeply rooted and widely supported cultural practice. Several closely related reasons are used to sustain the practice: religious obligation, family honor, and virginity as a prerequisite for marriage; an aesthetic preference for infibulated genitalia was also mentioned. The study also found that the health …

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Trends In The Timing Of First Marriage Among Men And Women In The Developing World, Barbara Mensch, Susheela Singh, John B. Casterline

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The timing of first union merits investigation not only because of the close temporal link between marriage and the onset of childbearing, but also because the age when men and women marry has implications for the organization of family life and for gender relations within society. This paper begins by reviewing the contributions of various social science disciplines to an understanding of the timing of marriage. Using current status data from 73 countries provided by the United Nations Population Division and retrospective data from 52 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 1990 and 2001, we then examine recent trends in …

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The Impact Of Childhood Mortality On Fertility In Six Rural Thanas Of Bangladesh, Mian Bazle Hossain, James F. Phillips, Thomas K. Legrand

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This Population Council working paper examines the causal structure of the relationship between child mortality events and subsequent fertility during a time of rapid decline in fertility in Bangladesh. Results lend support to the hypothesis of an insurance effect, while demonstrating that its demographic significance is likely to be less prominent than that of replacement behavior. Findings indicate that the insurance motive remains intact even after total fertility declined to fewer than three children per woman. The well-documented role of gender bias as a determinant of child health and survival is also a factor in child-replacement decisionmaking. Although the rapid …

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Accelerating Reproductive And Child Health Program Development: The Navrongo Initiative In Ghana, James F. Phillips, Ayaga A. Bawah, Fred N. Binka

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Successive global health and development agendas have been embraced by African governments—Alma Ata in 1978, the Bamako Initiative in 1987, the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, and more recently the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—only to be followed by widespread implementation failure. This paper presents an approach to program development in Ghana that is using research to accelerate policy implementation. Originally launched in 1994 as a participatory pilot project of the Navrongo Health Research Centre, a controlled experimental study was initiated in 1996 to assess the fertility and child-survival impact of alternative community health and family planning service …

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How Many Years Of Life Could Be Saved If Malaria Were Eliminated From A Hyperendemic Area Of Northern Ghana?, Ayaga A. Bawah, Fred N. Binka

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

For some time, Chinese government policies have treated rural and urban areas very differently, and a by-product of China’s rapid development seems to be an even greater differentiation between urban and rural social and economic life. Over the next several decades, in part because of rapid fertility declines and in part as a result of mortality declines at older ages, China and other developing countries will experience enormous increases in the proportion of older adults and the proportion of the “oldest-old.” It is reasonable to expect that these age structure changes will alter the provision of health care, making an …

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Poverty And Children's Schooling In Urban And Rural Senegal, Mark R. Montgomery, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This paper presents findings of a Population Council investigation into the effects of living standards and relative poverty on children’s schooling in urban and rural areas of Senegal. The research shows that in Senegal’s urban areas, living standards exert substantial influence on three measures of schooling: whether a child has ever attended school; whether he or she has completed at least four grades of primary school; and whether he or she is currently enrolled. In rural areas of Senegal, however, the effects are weaker and achieve statistical significance only for the wealthiest fifth of rural households. To judge from the …

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The Changing Context Of Sexual Initiation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Barbara Mensch, Monica J. Grant, Ann K. Blanc

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This working paper investigates the links between changing age at marriage and premarital sexual behavior in 27 sub-Saharan African countries in which Demographic and Health Surveys were conducted between 1994 and 2003. Using multiple-decrement life tables to examine the competing risks of premarital sex and marriage without prior sexual experience, we answer the largely unaddressed question of how reductions in the prevalence of early marriage have affected the likelihood of initiating premarital sex. Our analysis reveals that although the age of first sexual activity has either remained the same or increased, a shift in the context of sexual debut from …

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Building Assets For Safe, Productive Lives: A Report On A Workshop On Adolescent Girls' Livelihoods, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

For the 1.5 billion adolescents currently living in developing countries (325 million of them living on less than US$1 a day), the transition to becoming economically productive is particularly pivotal. Girls face numerous challenges in making this transition successfully, since in many settings females have less access than males to critical resources such as secondary school education, credit, land, training, and technology, and their labor is often unrecognized and unremunerated. A growing number of organizations and institutions have been using a livelihoods approach (which centers around the capabilities, assets, and activities required for gaining a means of living) to reach …

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Education Of Adult Children And Mortality Of Their Elderly Parents In Taiwan, Zachary Zimmer, Linda G. Martin, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Yi-Li Chuang

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Research shows an older adult’s education is strongly associated with mortality. But in societies such as Taiwan, where families are highly integrated, the education of family members may be linked to survival. Such may be the case in settings where there are large gaps in levels of education across generations and high levels of resource transfers between family members. This Population Council study employs 14 years of longitudinal data from Taiwan to examine the combined effects of education of older adults and their adult children on mortality outcomes of older adults. Results indicate that educational levels of both parent and …

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Poverty And Children's Schooling In Urban And Rural Senegal [Arabic], Mark R. Montgomery, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This paper presents findings of an investigation into the effects of living standards and relative poverty on children’s schooling in urban and rural areas of Senegal. To measure living standards, we apply a multiple-indicator, multiple-cause (MIMIC) factor-analytic model to a set of proxy variables collected in the 2000 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and extract an estimate of the relative standard of living for each household. Using this estimate, we find that in Senegal’s urban areas, living standards exert substantial influence on three measures of schooling: Whether a child has ever attended school; whether he or she has completed at least …

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The Effect Of Community Nurses And Health Volunteers On Child Mortality: The Navrongo Community Health And Family Planning Project, Brian Wells Pence, Philomena Nyarko, James F. Phillips, Cornelius Debpuur

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report presents the child mortality impact of a trial of primary health-care service-delivery strategies in rural Ghana. After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, under-five mortality in areas with village-based community-nurse services fell by 16 percent during the five years of program implementation compared with mortality before the intervention. Reductions were observed in infant (6 percent), early child (20 percent), and late child (41 percent) mortality. Community involvement and training of a local health volunteer were associated with an 11 percent increase in mortality, primarily driven by a 124 percent increase in early child mortality. Areas with both nurses and volunteers …

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Trends In The Timing Of First Marriage Among Men And Women In The Developing World [Arabic], Barbara Mensch, Susheela Singh, John B. Casterline

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The timing of first union merits investigation not only because of the close temporal link between marriage and the onset of childbearing, but also because the age when men and women marry has implications for the organization of family life and for gender relations within society. This paper begins by reviewing the contributions of various social science disciplines to an understanding of the timing of marriage. Using current status data from 73 countries provided by the United Nations Population Division and retrospective data from 52 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 1990 and 2001, we then examine recent trends in …

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Reciprocal Effects Of Health And Economic Well-Being Among Older Adults In Taiwan And Beijing, Kristine R. Baker, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Zachary Zimmer, Zhe Tang, Yi-Li Chuang

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The objectives of this Population Council study are threefold: 1) to examine whether socioeconomic status disparities in health are found in non-Western settings; 2) to assess whether socioeconomic status gradients in health endure into older ages; and 3) to evaluate the direction of causality between health and socioeconomic status. Findings provide evidence for reciprocal effects of economic well-being and health among older adults in both Taiwan and Beijing. Those with higher levels of economic well-being have lower levels of functional limitation over time, and those with higher levels of functional limitation have lower levels of economic well-being over time. Consistent …

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Ethical Approaches To Gathering Information From Children And Adolescents In International Settings: Guidelines And Resources, Katie D. Schenk, Jan Williamson

HIV and AIDS

This publication provides practical guidance to help program managers and researchers understand and uphold ethical standards when planning and implementing information-gathering activities among children and adolescents, and promotes discussion of ethical issues among people of different backgrounds and training who gather information for different purposes. The publication, which is divided into three parts, is intended to be helpful to anyone who plans, manages, implements, analyzes, or funds any program or research activity that requires gathering information from children and adolescents, including monitoring and evaluation. Part 1 presents key issues that must be considered from the earliest stages of planning and …

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Female Genital Cutting Among The Somali Of Kenya And Management Of Its Complications, Jaldesa Guyo, Ian Askew, Carolyne Njue, Monica Wanjiru

Reproductive Health

Trends In The Timing Of First Marriage Among Men And Women In The Developing World, Barbara Mensch, Susheela Singh, John B. Casterline

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Impact Of Childhood Mortality On Fertility In Six Rural Thanas Of Bangladesh, Mian Bazle Hossain, James F. Phillips, Thomas K. Legrand

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Accelerating Reproductive And Child Health Program Development: The Navrongo Initiative In Ghana, James F. Phillips, Ayaga A. Bawah, Fred N. Binka

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

How Many Years Of Life Could Be Saved If Malaria Were Eliminated From A Hyperendemic Area Of Northern Ghana?, Ayaga A. Bawah, Fred N. Binka

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Poverty And Children's Schooling In Urban And Rural Senegal, Mark R. Montgomery, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Changing Context Of Sexual Initiation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Barbara Mensch, Monica J. Grant, Ann K. Blanc

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Building Assets For Safe, Productive Lives: A Report On A Workshop On Adolescent Girls' Livelihoods, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Education Of Adult Children And Mortality Of Their Elderly Parents In Taiwan, Zachary Zimmer, Linda G. Martin, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Yi-Li Chuang

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Poverty And Children's Schooling In Urban And Rural Senegal [Arabic], Mark R. Montgomery, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Effect Of Community Nurses And Health Volunteers On Child Mortality: The Navrongo Community Health And Family Planning Project, Brian Wells Pence, Philomena Nyarko, James F. Phillips, Cornelius Debpuur

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Trends In The Timing Of First Marriage Among Men And Women In The Developing World [Arabic], Barbara Mensch, Susheela Singh, John B. Casterline

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Reciprocal Effects Of Health And Economic Well-Being Among Older Adults In Taiwan And Beijing, Kristine R. Baker, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Zachary Zimmer, Zhe Tang, Yi-Li Chuang

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Ethical Approaches To Gathering Information From Children And Adolescents In International Settings: Guidelines And Resources, Katie D. Schenk, Jan Williamson

HIV and AIDS