ABSTRACT
Controversies in biomedical science are seen by some as essential to progress; most policy makers, however, find them politically disruptive. The consensus development (CD) program was initiated by the National Institutes of Health to adjudicate between these views. By focusing on the liver transplantation conference, the CD program is characterized as a mechanism of social control to contain rather than to resolve controversy. This public performance has the trappings of democratic theater, but also the unmistakable mark of backstage politics.
Subject(s)
Liver Transplantation , National Institutes of Health (U.S.) , Risk Assessment , Technology Assessment, Biomedical , Advisory Committees , Dissent and Disputes , Federal Government , Group Processes , Humans , Interdisciplinary Communication , Patient Selection , Politics , United StatesSubject(s)
Attitude , Genetic Engineering , Sex Preselection , Family Characteristics , Female , Humans , Male , Sex Ratio , Students/psychologySubject(s)
Amygdalin/therapeutic use , Attitude to Health , Neoplasms/drug therapy , Adult , Fluoridation , Health Services , Humans , Middle Aged , Neoplasms/psychology , Smoking/psychologyABSTRACT
Summary This paper shows that the Indiana Amish, a high-fertility Anabaptist population, regulate their marital fertility according to their family finances. We linked demographic data from the Indiana Amish Directory with personal property tax records at 5, 15 and 25 years after marriage and found fertility differences by occupation and wealth. Correlations between family size and wealth at the beginning, middle and end of childbearing years were positive. Wealthier women exhibited higher marital fertility, had longer first birth intervals, were older at the birth of their last child, and had larger families than poorer women. Over the past 30 years, marital fertility has remained constant among older women; but birth rates among younger women have been rising rapidly.
