Sexual Conduct before Marriage and Subsequent Marital Happiness in Shanghai

Objective To investigate the links between wives＇ marital happiness and premarital sex and related consequences in Shanghai during 1980s Methods About 8 000 newly married couples were followed up at the 3rd and 15th month after their marriage. Results About 12% of them reported premarital intercourse. This proportion was higher among less educated couples with blue-collar jobs. About 63% of the sexually active caused pregnant before marriage. Most pregnancies were legitimised by marriage but 1/4 ended in induced abortion. Over 3/4 （78%） of wives reported that they were happy with the marriage in general, while 72% of wives were happy with the sexual aspects of their marriage. Results showed a strong relationship between marital happiness and the occurrence of a premarital abortion. Less educated and latearring women were more likely to assess their marriage neutrally or negatively. Conclusion Unhappiness with marriage in general and with marital sexual life were significantly higher among women with premarital abortion, and among less educated and late-marrying women.

19个发展中国家避孕失败的生育结果调查

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the contribution of contraceptive failure to uninten de d births and fetal loss in developing countries. METHODS: Nationally representat ive survey data from married women in 19 developing countries were analyzed. All surveys contained retrospective monthly calendars of contraceptive use and preg nancies for a 5-year period preceding each survey. Information on the intendedn ess of live births, ascertained earlier in the interview, were linked to the cal endar data. Single-decrement life table analysis was applied to episodes of use to estimate failure probabilities. The reproductive consequences of failure wer e established by simple tabulation. Logistic regression was used to explore the determinants of fetal loss. RESULTS: Reported contraceptive failure rates were s imilar to those derived from studies conducted mainly in the United States. Abou t three fourths of pregnancies resulting from contraceptive failure were carried to term, and all but 16%of those were classified by the mother as unwanted or mistimed. Just over one tenth ended in fetal loss, either induced or spontaneous . Analysis of determinants of fetal loss suggested that a large proportion were induced. The median contribution of failure to all unintended births for all 19 surveys was about 15%, and the contribution to fetal loss was 12%. CONCLUSION: The contribution of contraceptive failure in developing countries is much lower than the estimate of 50%in the United States. Despite the substantial increase s in contraceptive practice that have occurred in Asia, Latin America, the Middl e East, and to a lesser extent, Africa, the level of use is still below the 75% mark achieved in most industrialized countries. Nonuse of contraception remains the dominant direct cause of unintended births, and family planning promotion sh ould remain a public health priority.

双胞胎自杀的危险性:51年的随访调查

人们知道家庭关系密切对于预防自杀至关重要。父母健在并与他们同住、已婚、有幼小的孩子等均与自杀的危险性呈负相关。然而,人们对有兄弟姐妹存在情况下病人自杀或企图自杀的研究关注甚少,一项丹麦的注册研究发现。