Intergenerational transmission of reproductive behaviour in Botswana

Intergenerational transmission of fertility in Spain among cohorts born during the first half of twentieth century

It is known that historically fertility is correlated between generations of the same family. These links tend to be explained either in terms of the biogenetic determinants of reproduction or by the transmission of intra-familial values associated with reproduction and family life. Less is known about the micro-determinants of these links or about the extent to which the progressive modernization of reproductive outcomes over the past century has affected behavior. In this paper, we will address these issues for Spain with data from the Socio-Demographic Survey (SDS) carried out in 1991 and including data on cohorts born between 1900 and 1946. These data enable us to explore the micro determinants of fertility at different points of time during this period. Our results point to the existence of a significant correlation between intergenerational reproductive outcomes that persists and strengthens throughout this period of demographic change. Results confirm the importance of birth order in large family groups where firstborn offspring are more likely to have larger families than subsequent siblings. There is also evidence that the strength of these intergenerational ties increases with the onset of more modern demographic behavior characterized by sharply declining fertility. The results presented here promise to condition future debates on the subject.

Lower education among low-income Brazilian adolescent females is associated with planned pregnancies

Adolescent pregnancy has social, economic, and educational consequences and is also linked to adverse perinatal outcomes. However, studies show a positive relationship between pregnancy and increased social status among low-income adolescents. This study aims to assess the association between planned pregnancy and years of schooling among low-income Brazilian adolescents. This is a secondary analysis of a cohort study conducted from May 2005 to March 2007 in public primary care clinics in São Paulo, Brazil. Participants (n=168) completed a detailed structured questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between years of schooling and planned pregnancy. After adjusting for the covariates income, wealth score, crowding, age, marital status, and race, planned pregnancy was independently associated with lower years of education (odds ratio: 1.82; 95% confidence interval: 1.02–3.23). Although this finding may be related to these adolescents having less access to information and health services, another possible explanation is that they have a greater desire to have children during adolescence.

Childbearing in adolescence: intergenerational dejà-vu? Evidence from a Brazilian birth cohort

Background

Pregnancy in adolescence tends to repeat over generations. This event has been little studied in middle and low-income societies undergoing a rapid epidemiological transition. To assess this association it is important to adjust for socioeconomic conditions at different points in lifetime. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the independent effect of adolescent childbearing in a generation on its recurrence in the subsequent generation, after adjusting for socioeconomic status at different points in life.

Methods

The study was conducted on a prospective cohort of singleton liveborn females from the city of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, evaluated in 1978/79, and their daughters assessed in 2002/04. A total of 1059 mother-daughter pairs were evaluated. The women who had their first childbirth before 20 years of age were considered to be adolescent mothers. The risk of childbearing in adolescence for the daughter was modeled as a function of the occurrence of teenage childbearing in her mother, after adjustment for socio-demographic variables in a Poisson regression model.

Results

The rate of childbearing during adolescence was 31.4% in 1978/79 and 17.1% in 2002/04. Among the daughters of the 1st generation adolescent mothers, this rate was 26.7%, as opposed to 12.7% among the daughters of non adolescent mothers. After adjustments the risk of adolescent childbearing for the 2nd generation was 35% higher for women whose mothers had been pregnant during adolescence – RR = 1.35 (95% CI 1.04-1.74).

Conclusion

Adolescent childbearing in the 1st generation was a predictor of adolescent childbearing in the 2nd, regardless of socioeconomic factors determined at different points in lifetime.