Exam 2 Flashcards
Why short birth intervals
- exploitation of new foods, especially meat and tubers
- changes in tool use, food acquisition and preparation
- provisioning and introduction of weaning foods
- Changing social structure
Fertility
Actual reproductive performance (live birth)
Fecundity
Physiological capability of woman, man, or couple to reproduce
Fecundability
The probability that a couple will conceive during a month of regular,
“unprotected” intercourse. Determines the waiting time to conception.
Crude birth rate
(# live births in a year / mid-year population) X 1,000
General fertility rate
(# live births in a year / mid-year pop. Females aged 15-49) X 1,000
Age-specific fertility rate
(# births in a year to women aged x to x+n/ mid-year pop. women
aged x to x+n) X 1,000
Determinants of fertility
-exposure factors (can there be a conception)
-contraception
-suspectibility factors (What is the probability of a birth given that exposure occurs?)
Major drivers of variation
-Between-population variation
-age related variation (within population/within individual)
Natural fertility (loose fertility)
fertility in the absence of effective methods of birth
control
Natural fertility (technical definition)
absence of deliberate, parity-dependent changes
in reproductive behavior aimed at achieving a desired family size
ideational theory
Idea: groups differ in fertility behavior because of cultural values
Primary sterility
-age of menarche (start of menstruation)
Secondary sterility
-sexually transmitted disease
-celibacy
Beckers theory
- Reproduction can be considered economic behavior
- Demand for children (by parents)
- Supply of children (access to family planning affects supply)
What causes demand for children?
- Evolutionary perspective
- Maximization of fitness
- Doesn’t explain why almost all populations control fertility to some extent
- Malthusian perspective
- Elastic (changing) demand for children; depends on conditions (food
availability, wages, etc.) - Doesn’t explain modern decline in fertility
Economic perspectives
- Children are consumption good
- Demand is income elastic
- More money = more purchasing power = more children
- Implication:
- If everyone had equal access to family planning, the rich would have more
children than the poor
Nuptiality
study of the formation/break up of marriages
Cohabitation
couples in a conjugal union who live together but are
unmarried
Household
individuals who live together, whether related or not.
Usually share a budget for food and living expenses.
