RESUMEN
This paper examines the biosocial basis of premarital sexual and reproductive behaviour among women in Sudan. It applies Udry's biosocial perspective, which attempts to reconcile the biological and sociological models of premarital sexual and reproductive behaviour. World Fertility Survey (WFS) data were used to study premarital first motherhood. Early puberty was found to be paramount in determining childbearing in a separate biological model, but also in a biosocial model constructed to take account of social controls. This finding suggests that social controls do not influence the biological predisposition to premarital sexual behaviour. However, given the limitations of the WFS data, conclusive evidence must await a more appropriately designed study of reproductive behaviour in Sudan.
PIP: This study explores the biosocial basis of premarital sexual and reproductive behavior among women in Sudan. It uses Udry's biosocial perspective, which attempts to reconcile the biological and sociological models of premarital sexual and reproductive behavior. It incorporates the study of premarital first motherhood using World Fertility Survey (WFS) data. Biological, sociological and biosocial hypotheses were formulated to study the nature of the risks of premarital sexual experience. The analysis showed that the biosocial hypothesis may be partially supported not taking into consideration the lack of statistical significance of the effect of midway maturation. Early puberty was found to be paramount in determining childbearing in a separate biological model, but it was also predeterminant in a biosocial model constructed to take account of social controls. This finding suggests that social controls do not influence the biological predisposition to premarital sexual behavior.
Asunto(s)
Conducta del Adolescente/psicología , Coito/psicología , Matrimonio/psicología , Embarazo en Adolescencia , Conducta Sexual/psicología , Conducta Social , Adolescente , Demografía , Femenino , Humanos , Embarazo , Control Social Formal , SudánRESUMEN
This paper revisits and extends an inquiry on the age-at-menarche differential fecundity hypothesis. Earlier studies have interpreted the difference in the onset of female pubertal maturation as indicative of biological differences in fecundity between early and late menarcheal women. Using the WFS data for Sudan, the authors address the entire reproductive life of the women in terms of their transition from one parity to the next, as well as the speed with which birth intervals are closed, as a way to infer biological fecundity among the women. The study concludes that there is little evidence that early menarcheal women are more fecund than their late puberty counterparts.
PIP: Earlier studies have interpreted the difference in the onset of female pubertal maturation as indicative of biological differences in fecundity between early and late menarcheal women. The authors examine the ways in which the reproductive behavior of a woman is determined by how early or late in adolescence she enters puberty. Addressing the entire reproductive life of women, the authors study the transition from one parity to the next, as well as the speed of timing of reproduction, using birth intervals and parity progression ratios from which biological fecundity among women may be inferred. World Fertility Survey data for Sudan collected between December 1978 and April 1979 are used. Little evidence is found that early menarcheal women are more fecund than their late puberty counterparts.