Amir Erfani | Nipissing University (original) (raw)
Address: North Bay, Ontario, Canada
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Papers by Amir Erfani
Studies in Family Planning, 2008
Iran has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility in recent decades, but limited access to leg... more Iran has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility in recent decades, but limited access to legal abortion continues to lead many women whose pregnancies are unwanted or mistimed to undergo clandestine, unsafe abortions. No official data on the abortion rate in Iran have been collected, however. This study uses the 2000 Iran Demographic and Health Survey to estimate the abortion rate for the country as a whole and for specific regions, and to explore the role of contraceptive use and religiosity in explaining regional variations in abortion rates. We estimate the total abortion rate for the country to be 0.26 abortions per married woman, and the annual general abortion rate to be 7.5 abortions per 1,000 married women aged 15–49. We find that the negative effect of modern contraceptive use on the abortion rate is 31 percent greater than the negative effect of religiosity, and we highlight the implications of these findings for policies on reproductive health and family planning.
Journal of Biosocial Science, 2008
The remarkable decline in fertility in Iran, which saw the total fertility rate fall from 7 child... more The remarkable decline in fertility in Iran, which saw the total fertility rate fall from 7 children per woman in 1986 to 2 in 2000, has received only limited analysis in the demographic literature. Using the 2000 Iran Demographic and Health Survey and Bongaarts' age-specific fertility model, this paper examines the role of the major proximate determinants of fertility in bringing about the rapid decrease in fertility in Iran. The analysis indicates that contraception had the largest effect on fertility, accounting for 61% of the reduction in fertility from its theoretical maximum. The fertility-inhibiting effect of marriage patterns accounted for an additional 31% reduction, and was most important among the young. Further analysis of contraceptive behaviour suggests that the current period fertility rate of 2·0 children per woman is an outcome of a synchronization of delaying and spacing of births among younger women with stopping of childbearing among women in the middle and late reproductive ages. The policy implications of the results are discussed.
Journal of Comparative Family Studies 302 prevent or delay additional births. Furthermore, we wil... more Journal of Comparative Family Studies 302 prevent or delay additional births. Furthermore, we will investigate the net effect of women's intention to space or limit births and its interaction with other theoretically and empirically relevant socio-economic and demographic factors on the likelihood of using withdrawal. Using nationally representative data from the 2000 Iran Demographic and Health Surveys, this study intends to address these objectives by applying multivariate logistic regression methods. We hope that this study will provide further insights into the contraceptive behavior of married women by looking at their fertility intention.
Fundamental cause theory suggests that because persons of higher socioeconomic status have a rang... more Fundamental cause theory suggests that because persons of higher socioeconomic status have a range of resources that benefit health, they hold an advantage in warding off whatever particular threats to health exist at a given time. Therefore as risk factors that ...
Taking advantage of both a national survey on families (Canadian General Social Survey, 2001) and... more Taking advantage of both a national survey on families (Canadian General Social Survey, 2001) and a local qualitative survey (Orientations to Relationships and Childbearing over the Life Course, 2000), this paper studies the attitudes that differentiate respondents who indicate alternate expected or completed family size. While we find some evidence of differing values that differentiate those intending not to have children, there is more evidence of a common culture of reproduction than of heterogeneity in preferences. The alternative outcomes in family size would also appear to be a function of the difficulties experienced in relationships and problems of financial security, given the felt need to make high investments for each child.
Studies in Family Planning, 2008
Iran has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility in recent decades, but limited access to leg... more Iran has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility in recent decades, but limited access to legal abortion continues to lead many women whose pregnancies are unwanted or mistimed to undergo clandestine, unsafe abortions. No official data on the abortion rate in Iran have been collected, however. This study uses the 2000 Iran Demographic and Health Survey to estimate the abortion rate for the country as a whole and for specific regions, and to explore the role of contraceptive use and religiosity in explaining regional variations in abortion rates. We estimate the total abortion rate for the country to be 0.26 abortions per married woman, and the annual general abortion rate to be 7.5 abortions per 1,000 married women aged 15–49. We find that the negative effect of modern contraceptive use on the abortion rate is 31 percent greater than the negative effect of religiosity, and we highlight the implications of these findings for policies on reproductive health and family planning.
Journal of Biosocial Science, 2008
The remarkable decline in fertility in Iran, which saw the total fertility rate fall from 7 child... more The remarkable decline in fertility in Iran, which saw the total fertility rate fall from 7 children per woman in 1986 to 2 in 2000, has received only limited analysis in the demographic literature. Using the 2000 Iran Demographic and Health Survey and Bongaarts' age-specific fertility model, this paper examines the role of the major proximate determinants of fertility in bringing about the rapid decrease in fertility in Iran. The analysis indicates that contraception had the largest effect on fertility, accounting for 61% of the reduction in fertility from its theoretical maximum. The fertility-inhibiting effect of marriage patterns accounted for an additional 31% reduction, and was most important among the young. Further analysis of contraceptive behaviour suggests that the current period fertility rate of 2·0 children per woman is an outcome of a synchronization of delaying and spacing of births among younger women with stopping of childbearing among women in the middle and late reproductive ages. The policy implications of the results are discussed.
Journal of Comparative Family Studies 302 prevent or delay additional births. Furthermore, we wil... more Journal of Comparative Family Studies 302 prevent or delay additional births. Furthermore, we will investigate the net effect of women's intention to space or limit births and its interaction with other theoretically and empirically relevant socio-economic and demographic factors on the likelihood of using withdrawal. Using nationally representative data from the 2000 Iran Demographic and Health Surveys, this study intends to address these objectives by applying multivariate logistic regression methods. We hope that this study will provide further insights into the contraceptive behavior of married women by looking at their fertility intention.
Fundamental cause theory suggests that because persons of higher socioeconomic status have a rang... more Fundamental cause theory suggests that because persons of higher socioeconomic status have a range of resources that benefit health, they hold an advantage in warding off whatever particular threats to health exist at a given time. Therefore as risk factors that ...
Taking advantage of both a national survey on families (Canadian General Social Survey, 2001) and... more Taking advantage of both a national survey on families (Canadian General Social Survey, 2001) and a local qualitative survey (Orientations to Relationships and Childbearing over the Life Course, 2000), this paper studies the attitudes that differentiate respondents who indicate alternate expected or completed family size. While we find some evidence of differing values that differentiate those intending not to have children, there is more evidence of a common culture of reproduction than of heterogeneity in preferences. The alternative outcomes in family size would also appear to be a function of the difficulties experienced in relationships and problems of financial security, given the felt need to make high investments for each child.