The historical legacy and the changing landscape of adoption in Ireland are currently garnering much attention. However, to date, the specifics of the changes have not yet been presented. This article provides a detailed numerical overview of who is being adopted and who is adopting in Ireland. The compilation of the available administrative data…

This article charts social and economic transformation in the developing world over recent decades by drawing on a number of different secondary data sources. I propose that this rapid change means that we need to re-think the teaching of development in the curriculum to move beyond a polarised view of developed versus developing. The article…

This year's "America's Children in Brief" highlights selected indicators by metropolitan status to give the reader a closer look at how well-being is influenced by the type of community in which children and their families live. The "Brief" also provides a snapshot of the overall well-being of America's children through the…

Background: Hong Kong is currently a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It has autonomy over many policy areas, including finance and education. It is a community of seven million people, which has changed its focus and identity significantly over the last 25 years, from predominantly manufacturing to a service and…

This paper tests the external effect of household childbearing behavior by drawing on microfertility data from China. The test is executed by regressing one woman's fertility on the average fertility of neighboring women. China's unique affirmative birth control policy provides us with quasi-experimental fertility variation that facilities…

Having a child is a major determinant of geographic mobility. Little is known, however, about the opposite process--whether geographic mobility is a determinant of fertility. Drawing on social and human capital theories and research on fertility and migration to develop competing hypotheses, the author examines the effects of mobility on changes…

This fact sheet explores attitudes in Sweden toward sexuality and childbirth from a historical perspective. After describing the strict social control over abortion and contraception in place 100 years ago, and the gradual easing of those controls in response to the low birth rate, the paper goes on to discuss the 1974 Abortion Act, which…

Discusses various factors which affect sexual identity in boys and girls: orientation of curriculum and classroom activities; presence of competitive sports; and sex-role stereotypes in textbooks. Also discusses how societal changes, such as employment and educational attainment of women and decreased family size, are affecting former sex roles.…

By 1985, fertility rates in Europe were below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman in all but Albania, Ireland, Malta, Poland, and Turkey, following a steady decline from a 1965 postwar peak well above 2.5 in Northern, Western, and Southern Europe and an erratic trend from a lower level in Eastern Europe. Natural decrease (fewer births…

In this article, the author discusses the social issues that concern the young adolescents in Russia and their early onset to sexual activity. The early onset of sexual activity among adolescents in Russia is taking place under conditions that are quite specific. These conditions include: a low level of contraceptive awareness, a very small number…