There is growing evidence on the negative effects of perceived discrimination on health outcomes and their interactions with indicators of socioeconomic status. However, less has been studied on whether income and education lead individuals of a different race to encounter different discriminatory experiences in their lifetime. Using data from the national survey of the Midlife Development in the United States—MIDUS 1 (1995-1996) and MIDUS Refresher (2011-2014)—on eight measures of perceived lifetime discrimination, this study compares discriminatory experiences of Black and White persons in two time periods. We applied generalized structural equation models and generalized linear models to test multiplicative effects of income and education by race on lifetime discrimination. In both periods, we find substantive disparities between White and Black people in all types of lifetime discrimination, with Black people reporting much higher levels of discrimination. Such disparities exacerbated in the top cohorts of society, yet these associations have changed in time, with White individuals reporting increasing levels of discrimination. Results show that, for Black people in the mid-1990s, perceived discrimination increased as education and income increased. This finding persisted for education by the early 2010s; income effects changed as now both, low- and high-income Black people, reported the highest levels of discrimination. These findings highlight a policy conundrum, given that increasing income and education represent a desirable course of action to improve overall discrimination and health outcomes. Yet, we show that they may unintendingly exacerbate racial disparities in discrimination. We also show that the U.S. is moving toward a stagnation period in health outcomes improvement, with racial disparities in discrimination shrinking at the expense of a deterioration of whites’ lifetime discriminatory experiences. Our results highlight the need for a multi-systems policy approach to prevent all forms of discrimination including those due to historical, institutional, legal, and sociopolitical structures.

Communities urbanize when the net benefits to urbanization exceed rural areas. Body mass, height, and weight are biological welfare measures that reflect the net difference between calories consumed and calories required for work and to withstand the physical environment. Individuals of African-decent had greater BMIs, heavier weights, and shorter statures. Urban farmers had lower BMIs, shorter statures, and lower weight than rural farmers. Over the late 19th and early 20th centuries, urban and rural BMIs, height, and weight were constant, and rural farmers had greater BMIs, taller statures, and heavier weights than urban farmers and workers in other occupations.

This study uses Trivers-Willard hypothesis to explain the differences in daughters’ and sons’ educational outcomes by parental background. According to the Trivers-Willard hypothesis (TWH), parental support and investments for sons and daughters display an asymmetrical relationship according to parental status because of the different reproductive advantage of the sexes. It predicts that high-status parents support sons more than daughters, and low-status parents support daughters more than sons. In modern societies, where education is the most important mediator of status, the TW hypothesis predicts that sons from high-status families will achieve higher educational outcomes than daughters. Using cohorts born between 1987 and 1997 from the reliable full population Finnish register data that contain the data of over 600.000 individuals, children’s educational outcomes were measured using data on school dropout rate, academic grade point average (GPA), and general secondary enrollment in their adolescence. OLS and sibling fixed-effect regression that permitted an examination of opposite-sex siblings’ educational outcomes within the same family were applied. Sons with high family income and parental education, compared to daughters of the same family, have lower probability of dropping out of school and are more likely to enroll into academic secondary school track. In families with low parental education or income daughters have lower probability for school dropout and enroll more likely to academic school track related to sons of the same family. The effect of family background by sex can be interpreted to support TWH in dropout and academic school track enrollment but not in GPA.

This study evaluates a large (N > 366,000) sample of young women (15-18 years) from 64 lower- and middle-income countries for associations between height, household wealth, and schooling outcomes, with a focus on secondary school attendance. A pooled sample and regional samples (Latin America, South/Southeast Asia, East Africa, and West Africa) are evaluated. A dual purpose is to evaluate both associations between height and schooling, and potential height-wealth interactions such that height associations to schooling vary over levels of wealth. Ordered probit analysis indicates positive marginal probabilities from height on secondary school attendance in all samples, with diminishing probabilities in the Latin America and South/SE Asia samples, and flat/increasing probabilities in the African samples. For South/SE Asia and taller women in Latin America, height associations are stronger at lower household wealth. For both African samples and shorter women in Latin America, height associations are stronger at higher wealth. The findings suggest that the height-schooling relationship may derive from the influence from early-life health, and may also be affected by differences in health and education environments as suggested by variations across regions and height-wealth interactions within regions.

The paper studies seasonality of conceptions among five distinct population subgroups of mainland Greece for the period 1951-2002. The populations explored include those residing in Metsovo, Dion, Organi, Kehros, as well as a “General” Sample consisting of persons located in various areas of continental Greece. The populations under investigation present diverse characteristics regarding religion, cultural background, socio-economic status etc. Records of births were derived from the Vital Registration System of the respective municipalities and communities of the populations under research were constructed. The date of child conception was estimated as the recorded date of birth minus 260 days.

The analysis focuses, among others, on the construction of seasonal indices, applying a variant ratio to moving averages method which reveal, in relative terms, the seasonality of the phenomenon. Subsequently, these ratios are considered as the dependent variable in regression models while months, expressed in terms of dummy variables, are introduced as predictors. Four main sub-periods are considered; 1951-64, 1965-80, 1981-92 and 1992-2002. The findings show that the extent of seasonality differs between periods as well as between the five population subgroups though the phenomenon becomes less prominent over time in all cases. There is a tendency of an increased number of conceptions among mountainous populations during summer, irrespective of religion or socio-economic status, possibly partly due to environmental factors (i.e. seasonal workload, domestic organisation of extended families, etc). Nevertheless, the mountainous populations differ regarding the intensity and duration of this phenomenon. By contrast, in Dion, a lowland Christian Orthodox population, conceptions increase after Easter and remain elevated until June.

Japan has faced a decline in fertility since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the rate of pregnancy postponement and its contributing factors, with a particular focus on economic- and COVID-19 infection-related indicators. This study used data from 768 observations of married women aged 18 to 50 years with pregnancy intentions. The data were obtained from two rounds of a large web-based survey conducted by the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey (JACSIS) in 2020 and 2021. A generalised estimating equation (GEE) model was employed, as well as Poisson regression models for sub-sample analysis divided by year to estimate the year differential magnitude of the contributing factors’ impacts. Approximately 20% of married women with childbearing intentions postponed their childbearing. The analyses revealed that declining income and anxiety about future household finances were significantly related to delayed childbearing, while fear of COVID-19 and infection rate were not. Additionally, the adverse effects of unfavourable economic conditions were stronger in 2021. Notably, age did not influence the decision of pregnancy postponement. Older women postponed pregnancy just as much as younger women. In conclusion, this study confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly its related adverse economic conditions, contributed to Japan’s current baby bust. Considering that advanced maternal age is already common in Japan, this decreased fertility may result in the long-term negative consequence of further population decline.

This article reports the results of a study investigating the impact of family orientation, the number of years spent working, and their interaction on childbearing age among women who have recently completed their childbearing.

We find that a traditional family orientation and a higher number of working years contribute to delaying the childbearing age. People with a traditional family orientation can delay childbearing because they want to make elaborate material preparations for raising their children. Women who have worked many years are more aware of gender inequality in the domestic sphere (having been exposed to gender equality in the workplace). This is especially the case for women with a modern family orientation. However, this does not necessarily lead people with a modern family orientation to delay childbearing. They may advance their childbearing in an effort to escape an oppressive domestic environment in their families of origin.

Non-communicable Diseases such as anaemia, hypertension and diabetes and their treatment may upsurge the risk of childbirth-related complications for both women and their babies. The present study is an attempt to assess the level and determinants of Anaemia, Hypertension and Diabetes among pregnant women using the fourth round of National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16) data. Bivariate and logistic regression techniques have been used for data analysis. Study findings suggest that the prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women was found to be 25.9%, whereas the corresponding figure for hypertension and diabetes were 4.4% and 2.4%, respectively. Further, substantial socio-economic differentials have been observed in the prevalence of Anaemia, Hypertension and Diabetes among pregnant women. Results of regression analysis suggest that anaemia and hypertension were significantly higher among women in their third trimester [(OR = 2.10; p < 0.001) and (OR = 1.63; p < 0.001)], respectively, compared to women in the first trimester. Similarly, pregnant women in the age group 35-49 were at an elevated risk of hypertension (OR = 2.78; p < 0.001)) and diabetes (OR = 2.50; p < 0.001)) compared to women aged 15-24. Further, the risk of anaemia was found to be significantly lower among pregnant women from the richest quintile (OR = 0.71; p < 0.001) and women with higher educational level (OR = 0.72; p < 0.001) when compared to women from the poorest wealth quintile and women with no formal education respectively. Similarly, pregnant women from the richest quintile (OR = 1.68; p < 0.001) and women from other religion (OR = 1.75; p < 0.001) are significantly more likely to develop diabetes compared to women from the poorest quintile and women from the Hindu religion, respectively. In conclusion, early screening for predicting the risk of gestational anaemia, gestational diabetes, and gestational hypertension is critical in minimizing maternal and reproductive outcomes. The existing guidelines for Screening and Management of Gestational Diabetes, Gestational Hypertension need to be contextualized and modified according to a local need for effective treatment.

For women who are trying to conceive, it is critical to assess their general knowledge regarding fertility and fertility-awareness practices to identify the fertile window and their agency to achieve pregnancy. The couple’s ability to deal with the infertility issue may be influenced by their beliefs and attitudes concerning infertility, which are based on social and cultural influences as well as their inner aspirations. As a result, it’s critical to examine infertile and fertile woman’s general knowledge of reproduction and infertility risk factors. It’s also crucial to learn about women’s attitudes toward infertility (social beliefs), as well as the repercussions of infertility and the practises they employ to avoid it. The present study includes 250 fertile and 250 infertile women. Data collection for infertile women was done from the Gynecology Outpatient Department (OPD). Participants from both groups i.e., infertile and fertile women have little knowledge about infertility but, infertile women have significantly higher knowledge than fertile women. Knowledge of the fertile period, as well as several potential causes of infertility, were found to be significantly higher in women with infertility problem rather than fertile women, indicating that the knowledge they have acquired is not attributable to education system, but rather to their experience gained during visits to medical practitioners. In addition to differences with respect to knowledge, infertile and fertile women differed in terms of both attitude (societal beliefs and social consequences of infertility) and practices. Better knowledge regarding infertility is likely to bring positive notes among women with infertility problems. Which will further improve the attitude and practices of society towards infertile women. Therefore, its crucial to introduce reproductive health education at high school or undergraduate level, to assist women in avoiding infertility and to help infertile women develop healthier attitudes regarding infertility treatment and coping techniques.

India has a very high prevalence of female sterilisation compared to other countries in the world, with a prevailing situation of very low level of information about contraceptive options given to women. It is well established in demographic research that, there exists a strong association between knowledge of contraceptive methods and type of contraception chosen. Present study uses data from 3 consecutive rounds of National Family Health Survey (3, 4 & 5). The sample contains currently married women who started using the current method 5 years prior to each round of survey. Multilevel Logistic Regression and Fairlie Decomposition Model are used to analyse the effect of information given to respondents and decision-making power regarding contraceptive methods on choice of female sterilisation. Women, who are informed about available methods, have lower chance (45.8%, 37.5% & 40% for NFHS 3, 4 & 5 respectively) to opt for sterilisation after controlling all other factors. If woman is the sole decision maker for contraceptive choice, the chance of sterilisation reduces than cases where decision is taken only by husband or jointly. Information about other methods also contributes towards reducing the chance of female sterilisation over the time. Information about contraceptive methods is found to be a major factor in controlling choice of temporary or permanent method. Thus, major focus for the policy makers should be to make information regarding contraceptives more accessible for women.

The aim of this paper was to assess the association between non-clinical factors and Caesarean delivery in Uganda. Self-reported data from the individual recode file were extracted from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), with a sub sample of 9929 women aged 15-49 with a recent birth in the last 5 years preceding the survey. Chi-square tests and multivariate comlementary log-log regression models were used to examine the relationship between non-clinical factors and Caesarean section delivery. About one in ten (7%) of the women aged 15-49 had Caesarean deliveries. Non-clinical factors which were significantly associated with Caesarean section delivery include advanced maternal age, having the first birth compared to subsequent births, having 1-3 children compared to 4 or more children, higher level of women’s education relative to no education, being in the middle, richer, and richest wealth quintile compared to the poorest quintile. In conclusion, evidence suggests that the trend in Caesarean delivery can be attributed partially to non-clinical factors including advanced maternal age, birth order, parity, women’s education level, and wealth quintile. Thus, efforts to address the trend in Caesarean section delivery, need to take account of non-clinical factors.