scholarly journals Mortality Clustering in the Family. Fast Life History Trajectories and the Intergenerational Transfer of Infant Death in Late 19th- and Early 20th-Century Antwerp, Belgium

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 47-68
Author(s):  
Robyn Donrovich ◽  
Paul Puschmann ◽  
Koen Matthijs
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Intergenerational Transfer ◽  
Survival Models ◽  
Infant Deaths ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Family

In this article, we investigate to what degree infant mortality risk was transferred from grandmothers to mothers in the Antwerp district, Belgium, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. We also investigate some of the determinants of infant mortality and explore the role of the family - paternal factors (presence, age, and social class), mother’s childcare experience, and infant household location - in the survival of infants. The data for this research were retrieved from the Antwerp COR*-database and were transferred into the Intermediate Data Structure (IDS). The results of the survival models show that women whose mother experienced three or more infant deaths had a 77% higher risk of experiencing the loss of an infant themselves, compared to women whose mother experienced zero infant deaths in the past. These results remained robust after controlling for potential mediating and moderating factors. The results on the age of the mother at birth, her marital status, as well as the living environment suggest that at least part of the intergenerational transfer in infant mortality can be explained on the basis of life history theory: women who grew up in a high-risk family tended to reproduce earlier and faster, and often raised their children without a partner. In this way they unconsciously created riskier conditions for the raising of their own infants: the mothers had little life experience, limited resources, and often no assistance from a partner. As a result, their own children were also at an increased risk of dying in infancy.

scholarly journals The Intergenerational Transfer of Infant Mortality in Northern Norway during the 19th and Early 20th Centuries

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 69-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilde Leikny Sommerseth
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Intergenerational Transmission ◽  
Infant Death ◽  
Intergenerational Transfer ◽  
Maternal Line ◽  
Northern Norway ◽  
Infant Deaths ◽  
Intermediate Data ◽  
19Th And 20Th Century ◽  
Longitudinal Dataset

This paper is one of a series of five studying the intergenerational transfer of infant mortality down the maternal line. All five studies share the same theoretical and methodological design, and use data derived from a standard database format: the Intermediate Data Structure (IDS). The data for the research reported in this paper were derived from a longitudinal dataset covering the 19th and 20th century population of the province of Troms in Northern Norway. Our results suggest that there was an element of intergenerational transmission in women’s risk of experiencing an infant death; the children of a woman whose mother had had a high number of infant deaths also had a greater risk of dying before their first birthday. The risk of an infant death occurring among the children of daughters from such ‘high risk’ families was at least 30 per cent higher than that amongst infants born to the daughters of mothers who had experienced zero infant deaths.

scholarly journals Like Mother, Like Daughter. Intergenerational Transmission of Infant Mortality Clustering in Zeeland, the Netherlands, 1833-1912

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 28-46
Author(s):  
Ingrid K. Van Dijk ◽  
Kees Mandemakers
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Intergenerational Transmission ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Early Death ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Infant Survival ◽  
Infant Deaths ◽  
Intermediate Data ◽  
The Family

The burden of infant mortality is not shared equally by all families, but clusters in high risk families. As yet, it remains unclear why some families experience more infant deaths than other families. Earlier research has shown that the risk of early death among infants may at least partially be transmitted from grandmothers to mothers. In this paper, we focus on the intergenerational transmission of mortality clustering in the Netherlands in the province of Zeeland between 1833 and 1912, using LINKS Zeeland, a dataset containing family reconstitutions based on civil certificates of birth, marriage and death. We assess whether intergenerational transmission of mortality clustering occurred in Zeeland, and if so, whether it can be explained on the basis of the demographic characteristics of the families in which the infants were born. In addition, we explore the opportunities for comparative research using the Intermediate Data Structure (IDS). We find that mortality clustering is indeed transmitted from grandmothers to mothers, and that the socioeconomic status of the family, the survival of mothers and fathers, and the demographic characteristics of the family affected infant survival. However, they explain the heterogeneity in infant mortality at the level of the mother only partially.

Interrelationships of factors of social development are more complex than Life History Theory predicts

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Kotchoubey
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Strong Correlations ◽  
Behavioral Features

Abstract Life History Theory (LHT) predicts a monotonous relationship between affluence and the rate of innovations and strong correlations within a cluster of behavioral features. Although both predictions can be true in specific cases, they are incorrect in general. Therefore, the author's explanations may be right, but they do not prove LHT and cannot be generalized to other apparently similar processes.

Entanglements between Agency and Vulnerability in the Phenomenon of Birth. Reflections on Children’s Expressions about ‘Being Born’

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2-2020) ◽  
pp. 135-146
Author(s):  
Catrin Heite ◽  
Veronika Magyar-Haas
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Cultural Embeddedness

Analogously to the works in the field of new social studies of childhood, this contribution deals with the concept of childhood as a social construction, in which children are considered as social actors in their own living environment, engaged in interpretive reproduction of the social. In this perspective the concept of agency is strongly stressed, and the vulnerability of children is not sufficiently taken into account. But in combining vulnerability and agency lies the possibility to consider the perspective of the subjects in the context of their social, political and cultural embeddedness. In this paper we show that what children say, what is important to them in general and for their well-being, is shaped by the care experiences within the family and by their social contexts. The argumentation for the intertwining of vulnerability and agency is exemplified by the expressions of an interviewed girl about her birth and by reference to philosophical concepts about birth and natality.

scholarly journals Five reasons COVID-19 is less severe in younger age groups

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul W Turke
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
System Function ◽  
The Third ◽  
Immune System Function ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Younger Age

Abstract The severity of COVID-19 is age-related, with the advantage going to younger age groups. Five reasons are presented. The first two are well-known, are being actively researched by the broader medical community, and therefore are discussed only briefly here. The third, fourth, and fifth reasons derive from evolutionary life history theory, and potentially fill gaps in current understanding of why and how young and old age groups respond differently to infection with SARS-CoV-2. Age of onset of generalized somatic aging, and the timing of its progression, are identified as important causes of these disparities, as are specific antagonistic pleiotropic tradeoffs in immune system function.

scholarly journals Health capabilities and the determinants of infant mortality in Brazil, 2004–2015: an innovative methodological framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Bugelli ◽  
Roxane Borgès Da Silva ◽  
Ladislau Dowbor ◽  
Claude Sicotte
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Capita Income ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Fertility Rate ◽  
Employment Rate ◽  
Infant Deaths ◽  
Bolsa Familia ◽  
Per Capita

Abstract Background Despite the implementation of a set of social and health policies, Brazil has experienced a slowdown in the decline of infant mortality, regional disparities and persistent high death levels, raising questions about the determinants of infant mortality after the implementation of these policies. The objective of this article is to propose a methodological approach aiming at identifying the determinants of infant mortality in Brazil after the implementation of those policies. Method A series of multilevel panel data with fixed effect nested within-clusters were conducted supported by the concept of health capabilities based on data from 26 Brazilian states between 2004 and 2015. The dependent variables were the neonatal, the infant and the under-five mortality rates. The independent variables were the employment rate, per capita income, Bolsa Família Program coverage, the fertility rate, educational attainment, the number of live births by prenatal visits, the number of health professionals per thousand inhabitants, and the access to water supply and sewage services. We also used different time lags of employment rate to identify the impact of employment on the infant mortality rates over time, and household income stratified by minimum wages to analyze their effects on these rates. Results The results showed that in addition to variables associated with infant mortality in previous studies, such as Bolsa Família Program, per capita income and fertility rate, other factors affect child mortality. Educational attainment, quality of prenatal care and access to health professionals are also elements impacting infant deaths. The results also identified an association between employment rate and different infant mortality rates, with employment impacting neonatal mortality up to 3 years and that a family income below 2 minimum wages increases the odds of infant deaths. Conclusion The results proved that the methodology proposed allowed the use of variables based on aggregated data that could hardly be used by other methodologies.

Motherhood on display: The child welfare exhibition in colonial Calcutta, 1920

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-277
Author(s):  
Ranjana Saha
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
National Health ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
Infant Deaths ◽  
Infant Welfare ◽  
Mother Figure ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
The Ideal

This article focuses on the Health and Child Welfare Exhibition held in colonial Calcutta in 1920. Despite a few scholarly references, however, there has been no detailed study till date. The vicereines of India launched child welfare exhibitions motivated by the transnational exhibitory baby health week propaganda initiative to curb infant mortality. These exhibitions were also locally organised and collaborative in nature with an urgent nationalist appeal. The study critically engages with select Exhibition lectures about so-called ‘clean’ midwifery and ‘scientific’ motherhood given by famous Bengali medical practitioners and other prominent professionals, predominantly men and a few women. These drew intimate sociobiological connections between the problems of ‘dirty’ midwifery, ritual pollution, improper confinement, insanitary childbirth, insufficient lactation and the excessive maternal and infant deaths in Calcutta. The central argument is that these public lectures primarily focused on the very making of the ‘ideal’ Indian nursing mother, often imagined as the traditional yet modern bhadramahila mother figure, for rejuvenating community and national health and vigour. Correspondingly, it highlights the transnational resonance of famous Frederic Truby King’s ‘mothercraft’ popularised as childcare by the clock. The paper is, therefore, guided by the twin purposes of filling the gap in our knowledge about child welfare exhibitions in colonial India and illuminating extant scholarship on the global infant welfare movement.

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