Vijaya Krishnan

Preferences for sex of children: a multivariate analysis

Data from the 1973-74 Growth of Alberta Family Study were used to determine whether women who express a preference for sons versus daughters differ from each other in terms of selected characteristics. 67% of the 599 women surveyed indicated a preference for at least 1 child of each sex. However, the majority of those who wanted 3 children desired 2 sons and 1 daughter, indicating a slight son preference. Discriminant function analysis indicated the pull toward son preference was greater the higher the womans education, the more sisters the wife has, and the higher the current family size and number of additional children expected. While the number of wifes sisters makes the greatest contribution to daughter preference among adolescent mothers, birth place (Canada) was most important among older women. Finally, it was shown that acceptance of traditional female roles was a significant discriminator among women with a strong sex preference and those with no sex preference at all. These findings suggest that sex preference may become an important factor in fertility decisions as family size continues to decrease. If sex predetermination were to become possible, an imbalance in the sex ratio is a likely result.

Gender of children and contraceptive use.

In 1984, half of married/cohabiting Canadian women aged 18-49 years were using contraception, with sterilisation being the most prevalent method. This study, using data from the 1984 Canadian Fertility Survey of 5315 women aged 18-49 years, found that there was a preference for sons. Women with two sons are more likely to use contraception than those who have had two daughters; the gender of children may have a weak effect on contraceptive behaviour of Canadian couples at higher parities. Sociocultural factors (e.g. education, religion, religiosity) were also found to influence contraceptive behaviour.

Life cycle effects on homeownership in Canada

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between life‐cycle stages and homeownership, using data from the 1984 Canadian Fertility Survey (CFS) of women in the age‐group 18 to 35. Logistic regression analysis is used to identify the importance of husbands age, family income, work experience, nativity, and place of residence in explaining variation in the probability of homeownership. The results confirm earlier findings regarding the importance of life‐cycle stages, husbands age, and family income as determinants of housing tenure status. In general, women in their late childbearing and childrearing stages are more likely to own their own homes. Foreign‐born women are more likely to own a home than are Canadian‐born women. Overall, the findings suggest that life‐cycle stages and socio‐demographic factors (husbands age and nativity) influence homeownership more so than the womens economic characteristics.

Abortion in Canada : religious and ideological dimensions of women's attitudes

This paper examines a number of demographic and sociocultural factors (e.g., age, marital status, family size, religion, religious assiduity, sex-role ideology) as predictors of womens attitudes toward abortion, using data from the Canadian Fertility Survey of 1984. The findings suggest that womens abortion attitudes are to a greater extent based on ideological positions. It appears that anti-abortion stance affects those women who are religious, presumably by increasing the relationship between their general sex-role ideological stances and abortion attitudes. Abortion attitudes also vary according to a womans education, her size, and province/region of residence.

Evaluating the Adequacy of Social-Emotional Measures in Early Childhood

Technical adequacy and usability are important considerations in selecting early childhood social-emotional (SE) screening and assessment measures. As identification of difficulties can be tied to programming, intervention, accountability, and funding, it is imperative that practitioners and decision makers select appropriate and quality measures from the plethora of measures available. This study systematically reviewed and evaluated the technical adequacy and usability of 10 commonly used SE assessment and screening measures, using a framework for evaluating selected properties of measures (e.g., reliability, validity). Through this review, it was found that there are inadequacies in many commonly used SE measures, deserving the attention of both users and developers.

Occupational status, earnings, and fertility expectations: Development and estimation of a causal model

SummaryThis paper tests, within the framework of LISREL, the causal structures of occupational status, earnings, and fertility expectations using data from the 1984 Canadian Fertility Survey of currently married and common-law women aged 18–44. Differential occupational status, earnings, and fertility among three groups of wives classified by generation of Canadian residence are also examined. The models incorporate age, education, work experience, and ethnic/English language ability as exogenous determinants of occupational status, earnings, and fertility.The major findings are: (1) lower earnings of third generation wives are strongly related to lower levels of education, work experience, and job status; (2) wives who speak an ethnic language are likely to have lower fertility than comparable wives who do not speak an ethnic language; and (3) generational effects on earnings and fertility are limited to differences in education, work experience, and occupational status.