The objective of this study was to examine the association between multilevel factors related to HIV awareness and risky sexual behaviour among young women in Zomba district, Malawi. Secondary analyses of the Schooling, Income, and Health Risk (SIHR) study were undertaken. Four outcomes related to risky sexual behaviour were examined among young women: if participants had ever had sex, consistent condom use and two scores measuring risk related to partner history and age during sexual activity. Independent variables included individual-level factors such as education and rural/urban residence, as well as higher-level factors such as household’s highest level of education and health facility characteristics. Regression models with cluster-robust standard errors and multilevel regression models were used to estimate associations; analyses were stratified into two strata by school enrolment status, i.e. whether the women were in school (N=1407) or had dropped out of school (N=407) at baseline of the SIHR study. For both strata, increasing age and residing within 16 km of an urban centre (‘near rural’ residence) increased the odds of ever having sex; lower educational achievement was associated with lower age during sexual activity. A history of pregnancy was associated with lower odds of condom use and riskier partner history. For women in school at baseline, lower household education was associated with higher odds of ever having sex (OR=1.48; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.07); near-rural and far-rural (≤16 km and >16km from urban centre, respectively) residence were associated with decreased odds of condom use (OR=0.47; 95% CI: 0.28, 0.78; and OR=0.27; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.65, respectively). For those not in school at baseline, lower household education was associated with lower age during sexual activity (β=0.31, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.58). Also for women not in school, the use of private or non-governmental health facilities was associated with decreased odds of condom use (OR=0.51, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.67) and higher age during sexual activity (β=−0.30, 95% CI: −0.52, −0.09). While individual factors were associated with risky sexual behaviour in both strata, contextual factors differed.

Males and females differ in their preference for occupations and sporting activities, and differ also in risk-taking attitudes. In addition to other explanations, prenatal hormone exposure has been implicated in these gender-associated differences. The ratio of the relative lengths of the second-to-fourth digits (2D:4D) is a proxy indicator of prenatal exposure to testosterone relative to oestrogen. The 2D:4D ratio has been found to be associated with choice of occupation, particularly among females. This study investigated whether 2D:4D differed between police officers and a control group of civilians in Wrocław, Poland. Participants were 147 male and 55 female police officers and 91 male and 75 female civilian controls. The police officers had to undergo rigorous physical ability tests during recruitment and their job bore relatively higher risk, whereas the controls had a normal civilian lifestyle. Height, weight, hand grip strength and lengths of the second and fourth digits were measured. Analyses of variance and covariance were employed to assess the significance of difference in digit ratio between groups (police officers and civilians) allowing for interaction with sex. The policewomen, compared with the female controls, were taller and had stronger hand grip strength, but had lower 2D:4D in the right hand and average 2D:4D of both hands. However, male and female police officers slightly differed only in the right hand digit ratio but not in the left hand ratio or the average for the two hands. However, the control group showed significant sex differences in all digit ratios with higher (feminine) mean values in females. The study provides further evidence that prenatal testosterone exposure, as reflected in the 2D:4D ratio, might have an association with choice of occupation, particularly among females.

Studies have found positive correlations between prenatal exposure to testosterone and masculinization of offspring traits, particularly among females. The present study sought to determine if physical or sexual activity by the mother during pregnancy was related to masculinized/defeminized offspring traits in adulthood. Data were obtained from a large sample of North American college students (offspring) and their mothers. Information about maternal activity levels during pregnancy were reported retrospectively by each mother. The offspring provided self-ratings of various sexually dimorphic traits. Several significant correlations were found. By and large, as maternal physical activity increased, feminine mannerisms decreased and masculine mannerisms increased in the offspring, particularly for females. Maternal physical activity was also associated with increased upper- and lower-body strength and especially with adult height among offspring. Sexual activity by the mother was only associated with upper-body strength and adult height, particularly of the female offspring. Several sexually dimorphic physical traits in offspring are associated with maternal activity levels during pregnancy. Prenatal testosterone is almost certainly involved. The associations could either reflect genetic influences (given that prenatal testosterone is highly heritable) or an effect of maternal testosterone being transferred to the developing fetus. More research is needed to assess the relative merit of these two possibilities.

This study assessed caste differentials in family-level death clustering, linked survival prospects of siblings (scarring) and mother-level unobserved heterogeneity affecting infant mortality risk in the central and eastern Indian states of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Family-level infant death clustering was examined using bivariate analysis, and the linkages between the survival prospects of siblings and mother-specific unobserved heterogeneity were captured by applying a random effects logit model in the selected Indian states using micro-data from the National Family Health Survey-III (2005–06). The raw data clustering analysis showed the existence of clustering in all four states and among all caste groups with the highest clustering found in the Scheduled Castes of Jharkhand. The important factor from the model that increased the risk of infant deaths in all four states was the causal effect of a previous infant death on the risk of infant death of the subsequent sibling, after controlling for mother-level heterogeneity and unobserved factors. The results show that among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, infant death clustering is mainly affected by the scarring factor in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, while mother-level unobserved factors were important in Odisha and both (scarring and mother-level unobserved factors) were key factors in Chhattisgarh. Similarly, the Other Caste Group was mainly influenced by the scarring factor only in Odisha, mother-level unobserved factors in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and both (scarring and mother-level unobserved factors) in Madhya Pradesh. From a government policy perspective, these results would help in identifying high-risk clusters of women among all caste groups in the four central and eastern Indian states that should be targeted to address maternal and child health related indicators.

In the last 50 years Thailand has achieved advanced demographic and health transitions. Many infectious diseases are controlled and infant and maternal mortality rates are among the lowest in the region. Within such a low mortality setting, however, substantial variations in health persist, with education being a major driver. This paper assesses the ongoing mortality transition in Thailand, examining relationships between risk factors and mortality outcomes among a large nationwide cohort of distance-learning Open University students, as well as examining the differential mortality benefit enjoyed by this educated group when compared with the general Thai population. The cohort comprised 87,151 participants, who in 2005 completed a questionnaire collecting detailed information on socio-demographics, health behaviours and health outcomes. Participants were aged 15–87 at baseline and lived in all regions of the country. Cohort members’ citizen identification numbers were matched with official death registration records to identify mortality among participants. A total of 1401 deaths were identified up to November 2016. Results show cohort study participants experiencing mortality at approximately one-third of the rate of the general population in the same age and sex groups. The gap between the mortality rates in the two groups widened with increased age. Differential risk factor prevalence among the two populations, particularly lower overweight and obesity prevalence and lower cigarette smoking rates in the cohort, can explain some of this variation. The largely unmeasurable effect of aspiration for life improvement through distance education while embedded in their communities is shown by this study to have a powerful effect on mortality risk. With overall education levels, including higher education, rising in Thailand this growing group of educated aspirational Thais may represent future trends in Thai mortality. Identifying the drivers and characteristics of this mortality variation can help inform policies to provide health services and to help reduce mortality in the whole population.

This study aimed to investigate the frequency of consanguineous marriages and level of understanding of consanguinity-associated genetic risks in the Pashtun population, Pakistan. Information was gathered using a detailed questionnaire completed by 1500 individuals of both sexes over the 11-month period between April 2015 and February 2016. The mean inbreeding coefficient of the respondents was calculated and a five-point response scale was used to assess their understanding of consanguinity risks. The frequency of consanguineous marriages in the Pashtun population was found to be 58.3%, with a mean inbreeding coefficient of 0.0259. Marriage between second cousins was found to be the dominant marriage type. Level of education was found to be negatively related to the incidence of consanguineous marriage (p<0.001), and higher consanguinity was reported among the rural than the urban population (p<0.001). Participants in the ≥25-year age group, those with a higher level of education and those residing in urban areas exhibited a significantly higher understanding of consanguinity risks. The overall prevalence of consanguinity in the Pashtun population is high, demonstrating the need for awareness of its risks in the target population. The timely dissemination of information on potential health-related risks and the introduction of genetic counselling in the region would benefit both the individuals concerned and the community in general.

In a recent study, te Nijenhuis et al. (2017) used a version of Jensen’s method of correlated vectors to study the nature of ethnic group differences on Raven’s Progressive Matrices test. In this comment, the author points out that this method has been shown to be psychometrically inappropriate in studying group differences in performance on dichotomous (correctly or incorrectly scored) items. Specifically, the method uses item statistics like the item-total correlation that necessarily differ across groups differing in ability and employs a linear model to test inherent non-linear relations. Wicherts (2017) showed that this method can provide correlations far exceeding r=0.44 in cases where the group differences cannot possibly be on g because the items measure different traits across the groups. The psychometric problems with their method cast serious doubts on te Nijenhuis et al.’s conclusions concerning the role of g in the studied group difference in cognitive test performance.

Targeting reductions in fertility remains a key development goal, as too-high fertility hampers the economic and health prosperity of low- and middle-income countries. However, critical to the success of gaining reductions in fertility is the ability to understand the factors that are shaping fertility, and to understand the factors that are acting to keep fertility levels high. To contribute to this understanding, this study applied the Bongaarts (2015) adjusted proximate determinants of fertility model to 33 low- and middle-income countries using data collected from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) programme between 2000 and 2016. Results from the analysis indicate that there has been a universal decrease in the duration of breast-feeding and postpartum abstinence, which has contributed to stalling and increasing fertility rates in countries of Central Africa. In other regions of the world, such as Southern Africa, Latin America & Caribbean and Asia, increased contraceptive use and increased age at marriage, or sexual debut, has been able to offset this, leading to substantial decreases in fertility rates. These findings should serve as a guide to where additional development policy and programmatic attention should focus to reduce too-high fertility in resource-poor settings.

Economic conditions have dramatic influences on fertility. This paper evaluates the effect of the 2008 ‘Great Recession’ in the UK on first birth rate, which is the fertility behaviour most susceptible to external economic conditions. The key aim of the study was to assess the effect of the recession on fertility by individual-level characteristics, enabling variation in responses to economic hardship to be observed. Data were from the nationally representative UK Household Longitudinal Study (UK-HLS). Cumulative transition models were used to model the probability of first birth for women between the ages of 17 and 30 in three UK birth cohorts. The effect of the recession was captured using direct measures (local unemployment rates and individual unemployment status) and a pre-/post-comparison, capturing indirect effects. In general, higher birth rates were observed among more disadvantaged women compared with advantaged groups. The effect of the recession was disaggregated by social strata; the overall effect was counter-cyclical although at a slower rate among disadvantaged women.

Early sexual debut is of major concern because it is a correlate for health and economic shocks experienced in adulthood. In South Africa, this concern has provided impetus for research directed at the HIV and AIDS epidemic, teenage pregnancy and the effect of adolescent sexual behaviour on persistence in school. Of interest to the present study is high school completion, which is a well-established empirical barometer of adult socioeconomic opportunities. Using data from the five waves of the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), this paper examines the association between sexual behaviours initiated in pre- and early adolescence and high school completion rates. The CAPS study is a longitudinal survey that was designed to investigate young people’s (aged 14–22 years) educational attainment and sexual behaviours in Cape Town, South Africa. The sample was constituted from 3213 individuals who had initiated sex during their teenage years and the analysis was undertaken when the youngest cohort was aged 21, an age at which they should have completed high school if they were on time. Logistic regression models were fitted separately for males and females. Overall, the results reveal that early sexual debut is correlated with long-term negative educational outcomes. Individuals who experience early sexual debut are less likely to complete high school than their counterparts who make their sexual debut later on in life. This effect is worse for Africans, who also disproportionately have an earlier sexual debut than other race groups. Apart from race however, the findings also reinforce the effect of other demographic factors on high school completion, namely, place of residence and family socioeconomic status as measured by parental education and household income. Hence, early sexual debut adds another layer of inequality and worsens the plight of Africans, females, those living in rural areas and those who come from low-income families.

Wicherts (2018) criticizes the use of the method of correlated vectors when testing Spearman’s hypothesis. It is argued that Wicherts ignores the psychometric meta-analytic method of correlated vectors hybrid model and so is attacking a strawman.

This study examined the potential of the theoretical model proposed by Warren Miller (the Traits/Motives–Desires–Intentions–Behaviour or TDIB model) for investigating the involuntary–voluntary childlessness continuum. The first three stages of the theoretical motivational sequence (motives to desires to intentions) were examined using a purposive sample of 314 childless Polish men and women aged 30–39 (at the time of data collection in September 2013). In Poland, this is the age range when the final decision for or against parenthood is taken. To model the motivational sequence, the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique was applied. The results confirmed the hypothesized relations between the constructs for childless individuals in the analysed age group. Their childbearing desires were found to be good predictors of reproductive intentions, while negative and positive childbearing motives (independently) underpinned their desires. Moreover, positive motives appeared to have a stronger effect on desires than negative ones. The study also documented the psychometric properties of the Polish adaptation of the Childbearing Questionnaire, which was originally developed by Miller to measure childbearing motives. The advantages of using this tool for investigating the involuntary–voluntary childlessness continuum are discussed. Overall, the study validated the theoretical model as well as the adaptation of the Childbearing Questionnaire in the new research context: in the new cultural setting and for examining reproductive choices of a specific subpopulation. Directions for future research that could build on the TDIB model and allow for a deeper understanding of permanent childlessness are outlined.

Many industrialized nations are currently experiencing a decline in average secondary sex ratio (SSR) resulting in fewer boys being born relative to girls. While many potential factors may explain the decline in the birth of males relative to females, it seems most studies support the idea that male offspring are produced less often when environmental conditions are poor owing to males being more susceptible to loss in harsh environments. This study investigates the maternal factors that are associated with the sex of offspring in a cohort of the Australian population. It found that greater parental perceptions of wealth were significantly associated with an increase in the number of sons produced. These results suggest that male offspring are born at increased numbers to women with higher available resources, which may reflect the fact that male offspring are more vulnerable in poor environments.

In their response to my criticism of their recent article in Journal of Biosocial Science (te Nijenhuis et al., 2017), te Nijenhuis and van den Hoek (2018) raise four points none of which concerns my main point that the method of correlated vectors (MCV) applied to item-level data represents a flawed method. Here, I discuss te Nijenhuis and van den Hoek’s four points. First, I argue that my previous application of MCV to item-level data showed that the method can yield nonsensical results. Second, I note that meta-analytic corrections for sampling error, imperfect measures, restriction of range and unreliability of the vectors are futile and cannot help fix the method. Third, I note that even with perfect data, the method can yield negative correlations. Fourth, I highlight the irrelevance of te Nijenhuis and van den Hoek (2018)’s point that my comment had not been published in a peerreviewed journal by referring to my articles in 2009 and 2017 on MCV in peer-reviewed journals.

This study examined the recent level, trends and determinants of consanguineous marriage in Jordan using time-series data from the Jordan Population and Family Health Surveys (JPFHSs). According to the 2012 JPFHS, 35% of all marriages were consanguineous in Jordan in 2012. There has been a declining trend in consanguinity in the country, with the rate decreasing from a level of 57% in 1990. Most consanguineous marriage in 2012 were first cousin marriages, constituting 23% of all marriages and 66% of all consanguineous marriages. The data show that women with a lower age at marriage, older marriage cohort, larger family size, less than secondary level of education, rural place of residence, no employment, no exposure to mass media, a monogamous marriage, a husband with less than higher level of education and lower economic status, and those from the Badia region, were more likely to have a consanguineous marriage. Increasing age at marriage, level of education, urbanization and knowledge about the health consequences of consanguinity, and the ongoing socioeconomic and demographic transition in the country, will be the driving forces for further decline in consanguinity in Jordan.