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dmerritt
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2003 10:43 pm
Posts: 338
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:11 am 
 

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0039-3665(197902)10%3A2%3C61%3AATORFD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B

A fascinating study here about rapid fertility decline occurring in homogeneous populations. The most homogeneous populations in the world are experiencing declining birth rates. I've only read the first page, shown here, but the theory is amazing. It is thought that the idea of contraception - and the modern notion of parenthood being burdensome - has spread through these populations uniformly. Ideologically, there is less variation among individuals in communities where people share the same religion, cultural practices, etc. So, the thinking is that, ultimately, people practice contraception even when they don't need to.

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dmerritt
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2003 10:43 pm
Posts: 338
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:14 am 
 

Sorry it won't let me post the link. Just Google search 'Fertility decline in homogeneous populations'. The Rutherford article will pop right up.

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Insolent_Heretic
Torus Map Coloring Theorem

Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:53 am
Posts: 117
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:10 am 
 

I've always thought that it would be incredibly annoying if you realized you've been paying for contraception for years and were infertile. I mean apart from the STI's issue.

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~Guest 19003
Boiling in the Hourglass

Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 6:49 pm
Posts: 110
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:06 pm 
 

This is a little simplistic, but on the whole it seems valid. Ethnic Italians have one of the lowest birthrates in the world - way below replacement levels - but most couples still have one child, to appease social norms.

This reminds me of another study I heard about recently, that the most fecund potential mate is in fact not someone totally genetically dissimilar to you, but a distant relation such as a 3rd cousin. The inference is that since most people in industrialised countries have an enormous pool of potential mates, the odds of pairing with a distant relative - and having a dozen kids - is radically reduced, and so with that falls fertility.

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Veigard
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:24 pm
Posts: 11
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:21 pm 
 

This is interesting. I also remember reading something on the same (sort of) subject a while back. I think it was about a study which found that male sperm production has declined by almost half over the past century due to several factors which I can't remember right now. But that's actually quite far from what this study is about.

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