The study of the distribution of matrimonial distances is extremely important in the understanding of human population structure. The existing models of matrimonial migration are reviewed here. An assessment of the roles played by various social, cultural, economic, religious and linguistic factors in shaping the distribution of matrimonial distances has been made, with special reference to India.

The percentage of accidental pregnancies, the Pearl pregnancy rate and the life-table method have all been used to study the effectiveness of contraception in Belgium, using data from the Second National Fertility Survey (1971), which covered 3397 Belgian women in the age group 30–34 years. Though all three methods yield generally similar results, it is only by using the third method that we can obtain in an optimum way changes in contraceptive effectiveness by birth order and birth interval.

Generally, contraceptive effectiveness is low, the cumulative failure rate for the first 12 months of all intervals amounting to 18%. This holds even for intrinsically extremely reliable methods, such as the pill (4%). The efficiency of contraception, however, improves with increasing duration of marriage. This is attributable not only to a shift towards more effective methods, but also to a better application of less reliable methods, such as withdrawal. It remains questionable whether the increase in effectiveness, especially of a method such as withdrawal, is not partially based on induced abortion.

The findings also clearly reveal the dual aspect of the contraceptive behaviour in the sample: spacing until desired family size is achieved, and prevention thereafter.

The efficiency of contraception decreases with increasing family size, whatever birth interval is considered.

New South Wales law on abortion was liberalized by judicial interpretation in 1971. This paper describes the characteristics of the first 1007 women attending a free-standing clinic for induced abortion after it opened in 1974. Compared with Census data for New South Wales females of child-bearing age, the sample contained an over-representation of women who were relatively younger at conception, never married, divorced or separated, born outside Australia, of Catholic religious background, and worked as nurses or in factories. In comparison with background information about abortion experience before 1971, the clinic sample appeared to feel less anxiety and distress during the abortion sequence.

A preliminary breakdown of the characteristics of all new attenders at a Dublin family planning clinic during the first 6 months of 1974, showed that just under half of those attending were unmarried at the time of their first visit. Of these single women, three in five planned to marry shortly and two in five had no marriage plans. The main part of the study concentrates on this latter group. A sample of 50 women was interviewed and the results provide some factual data on their family and educational background, their sexual and contraceptive behaviour and their attitudes to related issues. They came mainly from upper-middle income groups and had a high standard of education. Although they were, almost without exception, born into Roman Catholic families, only just over a quarter were regular church attenders. All but 6% were already sexually experienced at the time of their first visit and most were now involved in a stable sexual relationship which involved having intercourse at least once a month; while well informed on contraception, only a small minority had always used a reliable method. Since the mean interval between first intercourse and their first visit to the clinic was over 2.2 years, the majority had been at risk of becoming pregnant. One in six of those interviewed had experienced pregnancy and half of these had sought an abortion. While 76% of the sample considered abortion acceptable in at least extreme cases, only 12% were without strong moral reservations; in the event of pregnancy 32% would consider seeking an abortion. A correlational analysis of some of the results is presented.

Serum prolactin has been measured in single blood samples collected within the first 22 post-partum months from 97 nursing mothers from an urban area (Bukavu) of Zaïre. Nursing mothers are hyperprolactinemic, higher serum prolactin levels being associated with more frequent suckling episodes per day. Furthermore, serum prolactin declines rapidly in mothers who are giving the breast less than four times per day: the levels are within the normal range found in non-lactating women after the 6th post-partum month. Among mothers giving the breast more than six times per day, serum prolactin does not decline significantly during the 1st post-partum year.

Previous lactation experiences do not facilitate the effect of nursing on prolactin secretion during subsequent lactations.

The incidence of Down syndrome in Scotland between 1960 and 1974 was estimated using data from thirteen Area Health Boards. Incidences in individual years, in different months of the year and in different maternal age groups were also determined. There was an apparent increase in incidence in more recent years almost certainly due to increased ascertainment. This may have obscured any decrease in incidence which might be expected as a result of a decrease in mean maternal age during this period and the introduction of antenatal diagnosis. No seasonal differences in incidence could be detected either in the whole area or in individual Area Health Boards. There was an increase in incidence with maternal age which was not significantly different from that found by other investigators. There was also an indication of an increase in relative incidence (% Down syndrome births/% live births) over the period 1966–74 in mothers aged 35 years and older.

This article considers the methods used to estimate the number of abortions before the 1967 Abortion Act came into operation. It suggests that the registration of legal abortions has enabled a new method to be used to calculate the number of illegal operations. The article concludes that the major effect of the Act was to transfer abortions from the illegal to the legal sector and, using the new method of calculation, estimates a total number of abortions immediately before the Act of just over 100,000 a year.

Data were collected from 1044 mothers resident in the rural areas of Zambia during a National Nutrition Status Survey, to determine the effect of lactation on the interval between conceptions. Lactation is very prolonged with a small proportion of mothers continuing up to 33 months. A main reason for cessation of breast-feeding appears to be a new pregnancy, only 1.5% of mothers being neither pregnant nor lactating up to 12 months. During lactation, conception is delayed for at least 12 months. The peak in new conceptions occurs between 25 and 27 months. The normal interval between births is 3 years for rural Zambian mothers.

This paper reports the social and medical characteristics of women resident in Aberdeen city who were sterilized in 1951–52, 1961–62 and 1971–72, 211, 399 and 1125 women respectively. In 1951–52 women were offered sterilization, the majority being lower social class mothers with five or more children who were sterilized concurrently with abortion; the small number of upper social class women had one or two children and were sterilized for medical or obstetric reasons. By 1961–62, sterilization as a mean of family limitation was becoming acceptable to women in all social groups, families were of four or five children and the women were much younger when they were sterilized post-partum. Later in the 1960s, oral contraception, IUDs and laparoscopy and vasectomy were introduced. In 1971–72, women themselves requested sterilization, the two–three child family was the norm, the proportion of upper social class women continued to increase, and interval sterilization was gaining ground.