A study has been made from parish records of the patterns of marital movement from 1837 to the present day in the Otmoor region of Oxfordshire. The social classes of brides and grooms have been taken into account.

It is shown that the spatial mobility of the different classes is markedly different, and in the earlier part of the period this difference is evident even on a very local scale. Social class distributions themselves vary according to population size and this variation affects the nature of marital exchange between the different populations in the area. Spatially exogamous as compared with endogamous grooms, however, do not appear to differ in their preferences for the social class of brides. There is marked assortative marriage for social class in Classes II and IV but both brides and grooms of Class III, especially in the present century, choose their partners more or less randomly with respect to social class.

The results of measurements of triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses in over 7000 businessmenare presented. Mean subscapular skinfold thickness, taken just below the point of the right shoulder blade, increases, while mean triceps skinfold thickness, taken at the outer side of the upper arm, decreases with age. The evidence suggests that the increase in the subscapular skinfold thickness is a reflection of the increase in weight with age when adjusted for height; on the other hand, the fall in triceps skinfold thickness in the older age groups may be due to a cohort effect. The inference, that the subscapular measurement or perhaps the difference between the two measurements are better indications of obesity in middle-aged businessmen than the triceps measurement, is supported by other published data.

Using a large special study population and refined indicators of socio-economic status, the relationship of the live birth sex ratio to socio economic variables is examined. The analyses provide control for the possible confounding effects of race and birth order.

The sex ratio is shown to be significantly and positively associated with socio-economic variables. The relationship is not linear, however, but instead is characterized by an apparent ‘diminishing returns’ curve. The major increase in sex ratio is detected as socio-economic status increases from low to moderate. No significant change occurs between moderate and higher socio-economic levels.

Even after controlling for the significant socio-economic effect, the analyses detect a significant difference between the sex ratios of Whites on the one hand and Negroes and Puerto Ricans on the other.

No significant association between birth order and the sex ratio can be detected in the study population.

This paper consists of an edited translation of the greater part of an article by Dr Braestrup published in Ugeskr. Læger, 1970, 132, 232, under the title ‘Unge modres t'iden oni og benyttelse af antikonception’. In view of the current interest in young mothers, especially unmarried ones, and of the importance of Dr Braestrup's contribution to the subject, it seemed desirable to make available as widely as possible the information contained in her paper. The Executive Editor is grateful to Dr Braestrup for permission to re-publish it in English and for providing the translation.

Summary Information about mothers under the age of 21 years in Copenhagen, in 1959 and 1968, was collected, reviewed and compared. The age distribution of the mothers was similar in the two surveys, but the fathers were younger in 1968. In that year, 84% of the married mothers had been pregnant before marriage; 90% of the married mothers and 35% of the unmarried ones had their own flats.

Knowledge and use of suitable methods of contraception showed a considerable increase during the period. In 1968, 90% of the married mothers and about 62% of the unmarried mothers had made use of contraception before pregnancy. The great majority seeking advice had done so from general practitioners while others, before or after pregnancy, had attended maternity welfare or family planning clinics.

Motivation to employ contraception, however, was only slight and approximately two-thirds of these very young mothers stated that they did not wish to avoid pregnancy. Only 15% of the married and 21% of the unmarried mothers were in favour of free abortion.

Ever since the Registrar General began to give mortality rates for different marital condition groups, it has been observed that, in every age group and for both sexes, the widowed have higher mortality rates than the married. In his 1959 Annual Statistical Review, the Registrar General made some analysis of this differential in terms of causes of death. The excess mortality as compared with the married appeared to affect the diseases listed in Table 1. The Registrar General's commentary asked ‘Leaving aside the question of possibility of error (in statements of marital condition) is it possible that the effect of death of a spouse is such as to increase the likelihood of death in the surviving member of the partnership? Here the basis of discussion has little factual support but it seems right to suppose that in the period immediately following bereavement the general state of ‘shock’ indeed is such as to increase likelihood of death. In the majority of young and middle-age widowed persons, however, this period passes and adjustment takes place, often followed by remarriage. There will be some selection here similar in many respects to that affecting the decision whether single persons should marry. With the older person, however, adjustment is more difficult to attain, remarriage is less common and the surviving partner, particularly the man, may live under relatively unfavourable conditions.’

Professor Morton was Johnston Professor of Biochemistry in the University of Liverpool, 1994–66. He served on the Council of the Royal Society, 1959–61, and on the Council of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, 1955–61. He was the first Chairman of the British National Committee for Chemical Education and of the Food Additives and Contaminants Committee. He has also served on many committees dealing with vitamins, bread and flour, nutrition and biological research generally. In recent years he has been active on committees of the Natural Environment Research Council.

This lecture was given to a varied audience of staff and students at the University College of Aberystwyth on 25th February 1970. The Executive Editor is pleased to be able to publish this interesting and thought-provoking discourse on a problem of ever-growing importance.