Abstract
The number of births reported by 786 women of native ancestry on the 1954 census of St. Barthélémy, French West Indies, was compared to the number of births registered to these same women in the records of vital events. The magnitude of the difference between the two numbers was related to a woman's parity and marital status, but not to her age or literacy. In general, the agreement between the two numbers was very high, with the mean of reported parities within 5 per cent of the mean of registered births for all age groups except one, where the difference was 5.6 per cent. The women of St. Barthélémy were well able to remember the number of children they had borne. It appears likely that the discrepancies between reported parities and registered statistics in previous studies are the result of cultural misunderstandings in questionnaires, or perhaps sample decay, rather than of women's memory loss.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 219-232 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Social Biology |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 3-4 |
| State | Published - Sep 1 1991 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Demography
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Sociology and Political Science
Cite this
Can women remember how many children they have borne? Data from the east Caribbean. / Brittain, Ann.
In: Social Biology, Vol. 38, No. 3-4, 01.09.1991, p. 219-232.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Can women remember how many children they have borne? Data from the east Caribbean.
AU - Brittain, Ann
PY - 1991/9/1
Y1 - 1991/9/1
N2 - The number of births reported by 786 women of native ancestry on the 1954 census of St. Barthélémy, French West Indies, was compared to the number of births registered to these same women in the records of vital events. The magnitude of the difference between the two numbers was related to a woman's parity and marital status, but not to her age or literacy. In general, the agreement between the two numbers was very high, with the mean of reported parities within 5 per cent of the mean of registered births for all age groups except one, where the difference was 5.6 per cent. The women of St. Barthélémy were well able to remember the number of children they had borne. It appears likely that the discrepancies between reported parities and registered statistics in previous studies are the result of cultural misunderstandings in questionnaires, or perhaps sample decay, rather than of women's memory loss.
AB - The number of births reported by 786 women of native ancestry on the 1954 census of St. Barthélémy, French West Indies, was compared to the number of births registered to these same women in the records of vital events. The magnitude of the difference between the two numbers was related to a woman's parity and marital status, but not to her age or literacy. In general, the agreement between the two numbers was very high, with the mean of reported parities within 5 per cent of the mean of registered births for all age groups except one, where the difference was 5.6 per cent. The women of St. Barthélémy were well able to remember the number of children they had borne. It appears likely that the discrepancies between reported parities and registered statistics in previous studies are the result of cultural misunderstandings in questionnaires, or perhaps sample decay, rather than of women's memory loss.
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M3 - Article
C2 - 1801202
AN - SCOPUS:0026214873
VL - 38
SP - 219
EP - 232
JO - Biodemography and Social Biology
JF - Biodemography and Social Biology
SN - 1948-5565
IS - 3-4
ER -