Describing time-trends in fertility using maternity history information.

Abstract

"The problems that can arise in documenting trends in mean family size, parity progression ratios, mean age at birth and interbirth intervals are examined by means of the maternity histories collected in the [U.K.] General Household Survey of 1989. Methods of removing the various biases are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of adopting each approach are discussed. The period parity progression approach to fertility measurement is the most efficient way of using maternity history information to document trends, but it is a little more complex to apply than other methods."