There is evidence that systems analysis has advanced sufficiently to have major theoretical and practical possibilities for anthropology. This paper presents support for this suggestion from studies of populations in two areas of the US: a Black migrant group in Mississippi and a Midwestern urban group. Some problems and potential applications of systems research are discussed.

The social consequences to the patient who suffers from vesico-vaginal fistula are discussed. Patients are mainly young, come from subsistence farming backgrounds, are often considered to have brought shame on their families, and frequently lose their husband's support, especially if their condition is of long standing. In a society that places a high value on childbearing they have little hope for the future.

Distributions of reported coital rates are positively skewed. The means of such distributions seem to be roughly proportional, not to their variances, but to their standard deviations.

The coefficient of variation of distributions of reported coital rates—at least for relatively homogeneous samples—is of the order of 2/3. It is estimated that the coefficient of variation of the distribution of true (as opposed to reported) values would be about ½ at the time of first conception.

Responses of 44 vasectomized voluntarily childless men and 51 vasectomized fathers were compared on the California Psychological Inventory, the Bowerman Scale of Marital Satisfaction and a questionnaire. The childless felt negatively stereotyped, but there were no differences between the parents and childless on marital satisfaction, reported childhood happiness or level of psychological adjustment. There were differences in modes of adjustment, with the childless seemingly less tied to tradition, more inclined to experiment and showing more capacity for independent thought than the parents. The findings suggested that childlessness may be a viable, healthy lifestyle, not determined by or associated with personal or social pathology.

In a rural area of Bangladesh IUD acceptors in the 2 years prior to the introduction of a family planning health services programme differed from the women who accepted IUDs following the initiation of the programme. The pre-programme acceptors were older, higher parity women who were using IUDs to terminate childbearing, in contrast to the post-programme acceptors who were younger, lower parity women who were using IUDs to space the next pregnancy. The reasons for these differences are examined. The result of the programme has been a pronounced drop in the birth rate.

Cumulative fertility as measured by deviation from the natural fertility schedule is determined more by intermediate variables such as child mortality, the use of supplementary food, lactation, and husband's absence, than by the practice of fertility control using modern contraceptive methods. Socioeconomic factors like education, urban residence and the possession of household assets, though differentiating these intermediate variables of fertility, do not have direct effects on cumulative fertility among the sample of Bangladeshi women in the Bangladesh Fertility Survey. The effect of age, controlling for the effect of these intermediate variables, remains strongly negative, suggesting an early onset of subfecundity. The implications of these findings for fertility trends and differentials in recent decades are discussed.

This paper examines the results of the 1971 Population Growth Survey in Pakistan and attempts to reassess the fertility and infant mortality levels utilizing some unpublished data on children ever born and proportion surviving. These adjusted fertility and infant mortality rates show that there has been hardly any decline in the fertility and infant mortality levels in Pakistan during the decade ending in 1971.

The relationship of completed fertility in West Malaysia to age at first birth, ethnic group, education, work experience and number of marriages is examined by multiple classification analysis. In each ethnic group, the net effect of age at first birth, after allowing for the remaining variables, is strong.

To explore the relation between arrays of multiple genetic systems and the age structure of a population, twelve plasma and red blood-cell polymorphisms were considered in combination. A comparison of observed and expected numbers of persons sharing an array indicated that 72·1% of arrays were in excess of expectation, largely due to association between over-representation and simple heterozygosity score. There was evidence of association between heterozygote excess and age, the proportion of over-represented arrays falling with increase in age. Some implications of this result are discussed.

A psychological measurement technique, the semantic differential, is used as a measure of the perceptions of contraceptive methods among 172 sexually experienced undergraduates. This technique enables the calculation of an acceptability score based on subjectively defined attributes. Factor analysis of the ratings identifies seven major dimensions, which have to do with effectiveness, discretion, pleasure, legality, permanence, harmfulness, and cost. A sex difference is found in that comfort and mood factors are more salient to females than to males.

From a longitudinal study over 25 years (1951–75) of two adjacent Gambian villages, the data allow estimates of population growth, birth rates, age-specific mortality, female fertility, and infertility rates in the two sexes. Such intensive but small scale local inquiries provide valuable information on topics not covered in official published statistics, and also data from which the reliability of some census details can be estimated. There are many similarities but also differences between the two villages. Population growth rate was 1·1% per annum for Keneba and 2·2% for Manduar. Crude death rates averaged 36·7 per thousand for Keneba and 24·7 for Manduar and showed little difference between the sexes. For Keneba and Manduar respectively stillbirth rates were 63·9 and 88·6, first week mortality 49·2 and 44·9 and neonatal mortality 85·2 and 49·6 per thousand live births. In Keneba, where survival to age 5 years averaged 50%, young child mortality was significantly higher than in Manduar but mortality at older ages was not. Season profoundly affected child mortality: about 45% of all deaths under 15 years occurred in the late wet season, August–October. Maternal mortality in Keneba was 10·5 and in Manduar 9·5 per thousand. Crude birth rates averaged 58·4 per thousand for Keneba and 49·0 for Manduar, rates per thousand women aged 15·44 years averaging 248·5 and 215·3 respectively.

In both villages mean birth interval increased progressively with the survival of the preceding child. In Keneba the interval increased from about 16 months when the first of the two children was stillborn to nearly 37 months when the first child survived to 2 years. In Manduar the corresponding values were 19 and 36 months. Analyses of obstetric histories indicated that total fertility was of the order of 7·5 live births per woman in Keneba and 6·4 in Manduar. Estimates of primary infertility for females were 3·6% in Keneba and 5·6% in Manduar, and for males 3·1% and 1·9%. Estimates of secondary infertility in females were 13% in Keneba and 19% in Manduar.

The HRR test was used to study the frequency of colour vision defects in 297 Zulu men and 43 Zulu women of Natal, two Basuto men in Natal, and two Swazi men and 21 Swazi women in the Transvaal.

The frequencies agree with the work of other authors, that the numbers of red–green defectives in the black populations of Africa are less than half those among European whites. The observed frequency of women defectives is greater than that expected from the number of males, and the difference is probably due largely to the inclusion of a small number of women with considerable heterozygous manifestation.

No yellow–blue deficient subjects were found.