Cognitive abilities of children in Costa Rica and Austria were compared using three age groups (N=385/366). Cognitive ability tests (mental speed, culture reduced/fluid intelligence, literacy/crystallized intelligence) were applied that differed in the extent to which they refer to school-related knowledge. Preschool children (kindergarten, 5–6 years old, NCR=80, NAu=51) were assessed with the Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM), primary school children (4th grade, 9–11 years old, NCR=71, NAu=71) with ZVT (a trail-making test), Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) and items from PIRLS-Reading and TIMSS-Mathematics, and secondary school students (15–16 years old, NCR=48, NAu=48) with ZVT, Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) and items from PISA-Reading and PISA-Mathematics. Additionally, parents and pupils were given questionnaires covering family characteristics and instruction. Average cognitive abilities were higher in Austria (Greenwich-IQ MCR=87 and MAu=99, dIQ=12 points) and differences were smaller in preschool than in secondary school (dIQ=7 vs 20 points). Differences in crystallized intelligence were larger than in fluid intelligence (mental speed: dIQ=12, Raven: dIQ=10, student achievement tests: dIQ=17 IQ points). Differences were larger in comparisons at the level of g-factors. Austrian children were also taller (6.80 cm, d=1.07 SD), but had lower body mass index (BMICR=19.35 vs BMIAu=17.59, d=−0.89 SD). Different causal hypotheses explaining these differences are compared.

This paper investigates whether community-level wealth inequality predicts HIV serostatus using DHS household survey and HIV biomarker data for men and women ages 15–59 pooled from six sub-Saharan African countries with HIV prevalence rates exceeding 5%. The analysis relates the binary dependent variable HIV-positive serostatus and two weighted aggregate predictors generated from the DHS Wealth Index: the Gini coefficient, and the ratio of the wealth of households in the top 20% wealth quintile to that of those in the bottom 20%. In separate multilevel logistic regression models, wealth inequality is used to predict HIV prevalence within each statistical enumeration area, controlling for known individual-level demographic predictors of HIV serostatus. Potential individual-level sexual behaviour mediating variables are added to assess attenuation, and ordered logit models investigate whether the effect is mediated through extramarital sexual partnerships. Both the cluster-level wealth Gini coefficient and wealth ratio significantly predict positive HIV serostatus: a 1 point increase in the cluster-level Gini coefficient and in the cluster-level wealth ratio is associated with a 2.35 and 1.3 times increased likelihood of being HIV positive, respectively, controlling for individual-level demographic predictors, and associations are stronger in models including only males. Adding sexual behaviour variables attenuates the effects of both inequality measures. Reporting eleven plus lifetime sexual partners increases the odds of being HIV positive over five-fold. The likelihood of having more extramarital partners is significantly higher in clusters with greater wealth inequality measured by the wealth ratio. Disaggregating logit models by sex indicates important risk behaviour differences. Household wealth inequality within DHS clusters predicts HIV serostatus, and the relationship is partially mediated by more extramarital partners. These results emphasize the importance of incorporating higher-level contextual factors, investigating behavioural mediators, and disaggregating by sex in assessing HIV risk in order to uncover potential mechanisms of action and points of preventive intervention.

It is difficult to gauge the success of programmatic efforts to reduce unmet need for contraception without knowing whether individual women have had their need met and adopted contraception. However, the number of true longitudinal datasets tracking the transition of panels of individual women in and out of states of contraceptive use is limited. This study analyses changes in contraceptive use states using Demographic and Health Survey data for 22 sub-Saharan African countries. A cohort approach, tracking representative samples of five-year age groups longitudinally across surveys, as well as period-based techniques, are applied to indicate whether new users of contraception have been drawn from women who previously had no need and/or those who had unmet need for family planning. The results suggest that a greater proportion of increases in contraceptive use in recent years can be attributed to decreases in the percentage of women with no need, especially among younger women, than to decreases in the proportion with unmet need.

This study investigates inequalities at the province level of the use of modern contraception and the proportion of short birth intervals among women in the DRC using data from the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey. Logistic regression and Bayesian geo-additive models were used. The posterior odds ratio and the associated 95% credible interval (95% CI) were estimated using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques. Posterior spatial effects were mapped at the province level with the associated posterior probability maps showing statistical significance at 5%. The overall rates of modern contraception use among the entire sample of women (15–49 years old; N=7172) and youth (15–24 years old; N=1389) were 5.7% and 6.0% respectively. However, there was striking variation in contraceptive use between the two groups across provinces with a clear east-to-west gradient. The highest use in the total sample was in Nord-Kivu (OR 1.32; 95% CI 1.12, 1.55) and Bas Congo provinces (1.47; 1.22, 1.78). For the youth, the highest use was observed in Nord-Kivu (1.19; 0.92, 1.65). In multivariate Bayesian geo-additive regression analyses among the entire sample of women, factors consistently associated with lower use of modern contraception were living in rural areas (0.71; 0.62, 0.82), living in low-income households (0.67; 0.54, 0.80) and having no education (0.83; 0.67, 0.97). For the youth sample, living in low-income households (0.57; 0.41, 0.84) and no breast-feeding (0.64; 0.47, 0.86) were consistently associated with a lower use of modern contraception. The study shows a distinct geographic pattern in the use of modern contraception in youth and the entire sample of women in the DRC, suggesting a potential role for socioeconomic factors, such as accessibility, affordability and availability, as well as environmental factors at the province level beyond individual-level risk factors.

The number of male per 100 female live births (defined as the sex ratio at birth, SRB) has been shown to be consistently stable in human populations irrespective of time and geographical location. All over the globe approximately 105 boys are born for every 100 girls and any significant deviation from this ‘global average’ is considered to be unnatural and is attributed to sex-selective under-reporting of births, sex-selective abortion, sex-selective infanticide or other man-made factors. The present paper uses data on civil registration from 2004–2011 to investigate the sex ratio at birth in modern Greece. It was found that the SRB is extremely masculine when the parents originate from the Indian sub-continent and China. The SRB is also unnaturally high (more than 113 boys per 100 girls) in the case of legitimate births born to Greek mothers who are illiterate. These findings are strong evidence that sex-selective abortions are taking place in Greece within population groups with a certain ethnic and social profile. Other parameters, such as age of mother at birth, birth order, legal status of birth and geographical location, were also investigated and they were found to play a role in the variation of SRB, but not to the extent education and ethnic group do.

It is known that mortality of Jews is different from the mortality of the populations that surround them. However, the existence of commonalities in mortality of different Jewish communities across the world has not received scholarly attention. This paper aims to identify common features of the evolution of Jewish mortality among Jews living in Israel and the Diaspora. In the paper the mortality of Jews in Israel is systematically compared with the mortality of the populations of developed countries, and the findings from the earlier studies of mortality of Jews in selected Diaspora communities are re-examined. The outcome is a re-formulation and extension of the notion of the ‘Jewish pattern of mortality’. The account of this pattern is based on the consistently low level of behaviourally induced mortality, the migration history of Jewish populations and the enduring influence of early-life conditions on mortality at older ages.

Kin selection theory predicts that individuals may increase their inclusive fitness by investing in their genetically related kin. In addition, according to the reproductive value hypothesis, individuals may increase their fitness more by investing in their kin in descending rather than ascending order. The present study uses the Generational Transmissions in Finland data collected in 2012 (n=601 women) and analyses whether childless younger women invest more in their kin than younger women with children. The study finds that childless women are more likely than mothers to invest in their nieces and nephews but not their aunts and uncles. Thus the results are in line with the reproductive value prediction.

Employing the Indonesian Family Life Survey, this paper depicts the trend in age at menarche in Indonesia for women born in 1944–1988. Mean age at menarche decreased from 14.39 years for birth year 1944 to 13.18 years for birth year 1988. Subsequently, this trend is related to the improvement in material conditions, measured by GDP per capita in childhood. The OLS results indicate that this decrease is largely explained by the improvement in material conditions. If age at menarche is considered an indicator of biological standard of living, these results suggest that the improvement in material conditions during the period converted to an improvement in biological standard of living.