[The study of unions in demography: from categories to process]. / L'etude des unions en demographie: des categories aux processus.

PIP: For centuries, illegitimate children, those born outside of civil marriage or a marriage conducted within the church, were systematically accorded second-class status by both the law and religion. This attitude toward such children frustrates efforts to change legislation, social structure, and our understanding of new types of union outside of marriage. In Canada, no common term even exists in the two official languages to designate the cohabitation of an unmarried couple. Such unions simply fall through the net of classical demography. Even the more dynamic approaches, such as those seen in multistate models, follow only the movements of individuals in traditional categories. One must understand that the formation of couples is a multidimensional process and that a multidimensional approach to such unions could lead to the creation of a new group of nonethnocentric categories applicable to a number of different societies. The authors also consider the notion of process, in which marriage and cohabitation are merely two states in a range of possible states through which an individual will move during the course of his or her life. Cohabiting situations vary in importance depending upon one¿s states. Better demographic analyses can lead to greater understanding of the human couple and its sexual and reproductive behaviors.^ieng

Early life transitions of Canadian women: a cohort analysis of timing, sequences, and variations.

PIP: "This paper looks into the timing and sequences of early life transitions of Canadian women using data from the 1995 General Social Survey of Family. Six events occurring in early adulthood are examined: school completion, first job, home-leaving, first cohabitation, first marriage, and first birth. Our analysis of birth cohorts spanning 60 years shows that the biggest changes in timing occurred in school completion and start of work; that the trajectories involving work before marriage have gained popularity among later cohorts; and that education appreciably delays early life transitions." (EXCERPT)^ieng

Remarriage of older Canadians: description and interpretation.

The remarriage experience of Canadian men and women aged 55 and over at time of survey are described using data from the Canadian Family History Survey, carried out in 1984 by Statistics Canada. Data pertain to approximately 1,300 women and 1,100 men. Remarriage is put in the context of total life cycle experience by means of a simple decomposition of the lifetime probability of remarriage. The analysis highlights the greater exposure of women to remarriage (due to high rates of widowhood) but their lower remarriage rates compared to men. The sex differential in remarriage remains when age at dissolution is controlled. A major regional differential is found in remarriage patterns in Canada, with residents of Quebec showing appreciably lower remarriage rates following divorce than the rest of the country. An interpretation of the observed patterns suggests the need for more attention to motivation in the study of remarriage behavior.

Sex-role homogeneity, female status and demographic change.

"This study attempts to investigate the nature of the relationships governing child-bearing models and family formation by measuring the status and role of women in society....[The author] proposes that inductive analysis should be adopted using the difference in life-expectancy among males and females at birth as a measurement of women's status to define the distinction between the roles of the two sexes. This is carried out by analysing the interrelationships between the variables of development, religion, area, fertility and women's relative status in a group of 120 countries. The study concludes that the analysis of the downward slope at the international level may explain the effect of the roles of the two sexes and women's status on demographic change on the one hand, and the effect of cultural factors such as region and religion on women's role and status on the other."

[Effects and consequences of orphanhood in past populations: North America]. / Efectos y consecuencias de la orfandad en poblaciones del pasado: America del Norte.

PIP: The authors examine how North American societies have historically handled the problem of orphanhood. A preference for adoption by individual families over the institutionalization of orphans by the state is noted. The development of the family solution to orphanhood over the course of the nineteenth century and the extension of the system to deal with orphans brought in from the United Kingdom are discussed. The development of an institutional system for orphans in the late nineteenth century is also described. (SUMMARY IN ENG)^ieng

The index of overall headship: a simple measure of household complexity standardized for age and sex.

This paper develops and tests an age-sex standardized measure of household complexity, defined broadly as the tendency of adults (other than spouses) to head their own households or to share households. The aim is a measure of household complexity which can be computed with a minimum of demographic data, namely, data on number of households and on the population by age and sex. The procedure is similar to that of Coale for fertility measurement (Coale, 1969); it is a form of indirect standardization in which the actual number of households is related to the number that would exist if maximum age-sex-specific household headship rates were to apply. Various forms of this indirectly standardized measure show a correlation of better than 0.9 with directly standardized measures for a sample of 33 nations for which requisite data are available. The new measure promises to extend considerably the geographical and temporal range of comparable empirical measures of household complexity.

Multiple leiomyosarcomas.

A 32-year-old woman underwent a conservative total excision of a leiomyosarcoma of the sigmoid mesocolon. During the subsequent six years she developed additional malignant and benign smooth muscle neoplasms in the soft tissues and uterus which were treated only by nonmutilating surgical excisions with an excellent result. Since we know of no proof to the contrary, we submit this case as an example for surgically excising adult soft tissue sarcomas in as conservative a manner as is sufficient to locally eradicate the disease. Adjunctive radiation or chemotherapy or both may prove to be beneficial.

Trends and differentials in age at marriage in Korea.

PIP: The findings of a study of time trends and demographic social, and economic differentials in age at marriage are presented. Korean birth rates declined between 1960 and 1970, and the major cause of this decline was delayed marriage. This article is based on a literature survey and on some analysis of the 1966 Special Demographic Survey. The findings indicated that around 28% of the women born before 1896 were still single at age 18 compared with 50% of the cohort born from 1911 to 1969. Data indicate that both urban and rural areas of Korea have departed from the traditional pattern of early marriage. Especially for females there is competition between marriage and high educational attainment. Also, a lower proportion of working women than nonworking women report a lower proportion married before age 20.^ieng