Describing time-trends in fertility using maternity history information

Area of Science:

• Demography
• Sociology
• Public Health

Background:

• Documenting trends in family size, parity progression, and birth intervals presents methodological challenges.
• Maternity histories are a key data source for fertility analysis, but are prone to biases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine problems in documenting fertility trends using maternity history data.
• To discuss methods for removing biases in fertility trend analysis.
• To evaluate different approaches for fertility measurement.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of maternity histories from the 1989 UK General Household Survey.
• Examination of methods to correct for biases in fertility data.
• Comparison of different fertility measurement techniques.

Main Results:

• Various biases can affect the documentation of trends in family size, parity progression, and birth intervals.
• The period parity progression approach is identified as the most efficient method for utilizing maternity history data.
• This approach, while effective, is more complex to implement than alternative methods.

Conclusions:

• Careful consideration of methodological issues is crucial for accurate fertility trend analysis.
• The period parity progression approach offers superior efficiency in analyzing maternity history data.
• Despite its complexity, the period parity progression approach is recommended for comprehensive fertility trend documentation.