• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.79-86
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• 2008

The sex ratio at birth of South Korea is exceeding the natural sex ratio at birth, which is estimated to be about 105. One of the reasons of high sex ratio at birth is due to sex-selective abortion which is caused by strong son preference. The main objective of this study is to identify whether the families which are trying to bear children only until they acquire one son contribute to high sex ratio at birth. As a result, we obtain the theorem that if the number of such families diverge, the sex ratio at birth converges to the natural sex ratio almost surely. Therefore, we conclude that the existence of the families which are trying to bear children only until they receive one son does not affect the sex ratio at birth.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 1988

The purpose of this study was to find out the factors affecting birth sex ratio which had revealed alarmingly higher in recent years. This study was conducted to get hold of the basic data such as the sex ratio of live births which had been delivered at 5 general hospitals in Taegu from 1982 to 1986. And author chose Dongsan Medical Center from those 5 hospitals for further detailed study, and reviewed 1,286 medical records of mothers who had birth in each February and March from 1984 to 1987. Of these 1,286 deliveries, 30 cases were twin deliveries, which added the total children numbers to 1,316. The findings of this study were as follows: The average of birth sex ratio( 114.5) for 5 years at five general hospitals in Taegu was slightly higher than the traditional birth sex ratio( 102-107) and the highest was 123.4 in 1985. There was no significant difference in birth sex ratio by mother's educational level, her religion nor father's occupation. The birth sex ratio of the cases whose mother was above 35 years old was significantly high(400.0), that of the cases who were born to the mothers who had more than 3rd parity was significantly high(309.5), and that of the cases whose mother had more than two daughters and no son was also significantly high (330.7). The birth sex ratio of the cases who did not have ultrasonogram on their prenatal visits was 87.8. In contrast to this, that of the cases who had ultrasonogram was significantly higher( 135.5). Of the mothers who have more than two daughters and no son' 80.4% (45 cases) had ultrasonogram and their newborn's birth sex ratio was significantly high(542.9). Of the cases who were born to more than 3rd parity mothers, 75.6%(65 cases) of their mothers had ultrasonogram and their sex ratio was significantly high(441.6). It was revealed by this study that the birth sex ratio is changed to significantly high due to sex confirmation of the fetus by ultrasonogram. Thus it is recommended that the value related to having equality of sexes must be ingrained by changing the various social systems and value systems which is now aggrevating the son preference and should provide controlling system which can prohibit the ultrasonogram for sex confirmation only.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.159-178
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• 2011

Korea has been widely recognized as the most successful country for reversal of the rise in sex ratio at birth (from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s) in a short period of time. However, unusually high sex ratios at birth are still observed in most regions as parity increases. Given that imbalanced sex ratios at high birth orders are mostly due to son-selective abortion, it still remains questionable whether son-selective reproductive behavior has vanished in Korea. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the pattern of changing trends and socioeconomic differentials in sex ratio at birth. Micro-data from birth registration for 2009 are utilized. Attention is focused on analyzing sex ratios at birth in Youngnam region according to age of mother, parity, educational attainment of parents, and occupation of parents. A series of simulations are also conducted in this paper to show how prenatal sex screening and son-selective abortion have affected the level of sex ratio at birth for years 1994, 2005 and 2009.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2009

Objectives : South Korea has experienced unprecedented ups and downs in the sex ratio at birth(SRB), which has been a unique phenomenon in the last two decades. However, little is known about socioeconomic factors that influence the SRB. Employing the diffusion theory by Rogers, this study was undertaken to examine the trends in social variations in the SRB from 1981 to 2004 in Korea. Methods : The data was taken from Vital Birth Statistics for the period from 1981-2004. We computed the annual male proportion of live births according to the parental education(university, middle/high school, primary) and occupation(non-manual, manual, others). Logistic regression analysis was employed to estimate the odds ratios of male birth according to social position for the equidistant three time periods(1981-1984, 1991-1994, and 2001-2004). Results : An increased SRB was detected among parents with higher social position before the mid 1980s. Since then, however, a greater SRB was found for the less educated and manual jobholders. The inverse social gradient for the SRB was most prominent in early 1990s, but the gap has narrowed since the late 1990s. The mother's socioeconomic position could be a sensitive indicator of the social variations in the sex ratio at birth. Conclusions : Changes in the relationship of parental social position with the SRB were detected during the 1980-2004 in Korea. This Korean experience may well be explained by diffusion theory, suggesting there have been socioeconomic differences in the adoption and spread of sex-detection technology.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.1-23
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• 1993

Korea fertility level has dropped since the 1960's and speed of decline has accelerated in the 1980's. In the resuls, the growth rate reached to less then 1 percent in 1990 and will be $\ulcorner$0 $\lrcorner$ percent growth in 2021. The total population will increase to 50, 586 thousand persons in 2021 then will decrease. With the rapid fertility decline the age structure of Korean population has changed : while the proportion of child population aged 0-14 is decreasing sharply, that of old-age population aged 65 and over is increasing. Because of the recent increase of sex ratio at birth, the sex structure among the young generation has been destorted; the sex ratio at age 0-4 was as high as high as 112.0 in 1990. The effects of these population phenomena on Korean society are the followings: 1) Old age dependency ratio is increasing rapidly and continuously and will be about 40.0 from the 2050's. 2) Because of the rapid decline of the number of births, the absolute number of the major labour force at age 25-34 will decrease after around 2000 and then from the 2010's become less than that in 1990. 3) Since the large fertility defferentials by womens's educational level have continued and the relation between the educational levels of mothers and children are very strong, level has dropped among higher educated women first when the average fertility level has declined in Korea, the average educational level of the children is may be expected to be relatively low and then the future productivity is will be also low, which causes the decline of 'quality of population. 4) When the high sex ratio at birth (over 110 since 1986) continues, number of brides will be short by over 20 percent from the 2010s, which will bring various kinds of social prblems. Therefore, the counter measures in concrete to relieve the heavy problems are recommended as follows: 1) The extention of the birth intervals, which helps to drop the population growth rate at the same level of number of children per women. 2) The positive supports for out-migrants, which helps to reduce the population size without any destortion of age-sex structure. 3) The defferent supports of family planning for the higher and lower classes, which helps to reduce the gaps between different ferility levels of the classes and to keep and improve the quality of population. 4)population education for both students and adults, which helps to minimize the gap between the private and public requirements.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.77-97
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• 1994

Despite the fact that the national family planning program in korea has accomplished its primary goals of fertility reduction and universal contraceptive use, the induced abortion is still high and there has been an increasing trend in the population sex ratio at birth. It seems that the changes in the imbalance of sex ratio have originated from traditonal boy preference. This indicates that much of the current family planning program can be overhauled, so that the program quality could be better controlled, by preventing the number of unwanted pregnancies and the imbalance of sex ratios. This paper aims, therefore, to examine the determinants of induced abortion through the investigation of pregnancy outcomes and their changes over time and to study the interaction between induced abortion, boy preference and the imbalance of sex ratio in Korea. The abortion rate had increased rapidly until the mid-1980s when there were about the same number of abortions as live births. Thereafter, the abortion rate has been maintained at this high level. By parity it shows a much higher abortion rate for a higher parity at all time. From the first parity, the sex composition of previous children stands out as the most important factor in deciding the pregnancy outcome at all time. The probability of a pregnancy ending in an abortion increases substantially when parents already had a son. The decline of the desired family size and the sustained strong son preference has made the sex of children a more important factor in the determination of the pregnancy outcome. Women's education has had consistently positive effects on the probability of a pregnancy ending in an abortion, but the effect shows a steady decline over time. The premarital pregnancy and urban residence also increase the abortion probability. This study suggests that the main concerns of the family planning program should be to strengthen the social support policies so as to weaken the son preference value leading to a balanced sex ratio and prevention of induced abortions.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 1993

To find some involvement of environmental factors in autism, season of birth, birth order, and maternal age at birth of autistic children were investigated Total number of clinical outpatient autistic children was 357, which consisted of 319 male and 38 female, then male-to-female sex ratio was 8.4 to 1, and all subjects were born during $1986{\sim}1988.$ These data were compared with those of controlled general populations. The results were as follows : 1) In monthly and seasonal distributions of birth, autistic children were not different from normal control 2) Comparing with control group by Slater's and Greenwood-Yule's birth order calculation methods, there was no significant difference in birth order of autistic children 3) The maternal ages at birth in autistic group were significantly higher than those of control group(P<01) 4) High-risk pregnancies were significantly frequent in autistic group compared with control group(p<01)Our study supported the idea that at least some environmental factors, especially at-risk pregnancy, are involved in autism causation.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.229-237
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• 2022

This study investigated the growth characteristics of four strains of newly developed synthetic Korean native commercial chickens (KNCs). We investigated a suitable growth curve model in KNCs and estimated the number of days to reach a 2 kg market weight. Body weight was measured at 2-week intervals from birth to 12 weeks of age. The growth curves were estimated using von Berteralanffy, Gompertz, and logistic functions. The results showed that males were significantly heavier than females at all ages, but there were no significant differences in body weight between strains, except at birth and 2 and 6 weeks of age. The coefficients of determination and adjusted determination of growth function had high goodness-of-fit (97.4~99.7). Of the growth curve parameters, the mature weight and growth ratio were higher in males than in females, but the maturity rate was similar in males and females. The inflection point occurred at approximately 7 weeks of age for females and 8 to 9 weeks of age for males. The weights estimated from the growth curve functions almost agreed with the actual weights, except for male weights estimated using the von Bertalanffy function. The coefficients of determination of the regression equations for weight to age were 0.9583 to 0.9746. The 8- and 10-week-old body weights estimated using the regression equation, and the 12-week-old weight estimated using the logistic function were most similar to the actual weight. Using these models, the estimated age of KNCs to reach 2 kg was 62.0~64.6 days for males and 74.9~78.6 days for females.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.79-115
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• 2001

This research explores determinants of induced abortion in Korea. Data from the 1997 Korea National Fertility Survey by Korea Institute of Health and Social Affairs are used for this research. Another aim of this study is to verify a methodological appropriateness of survival analysis in the study of determinants of induced abortion. I compare the result of survival analysis with that of logit analysis for this purpose. In this study, it is revealed that age at conception, number of children, and number of son that have been considered as determinants of induced abortion are still significant in determining induced abortion. However, unlike results of prior research, the practice of contraception does not affect the choice of induced abortion when I control for that the conception was wanted or not. I also find that there is a significant interaction between number of son at the time of conception and intention of the conception. Induced abortion has a far reaching impact on a society as well as on the health and well-being of a woman. In Korean society, sex-selective induced abortion with son preference can cause a very high level of imbalance of sex ratio at birth. Hence, it is so important to be more cautious to the practice and prevalence of induced abortion in the age of lowe fertility.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 2006

This paper examines the interplay among changes in socioeconomic conditions, population policies, and fertility decline during $1960{\sim}2000$ in South Korea. Period-parity-progression-ratios (PPPR) are calculated using 2% samples of Population Census with the implied distribution of completed family size. The total fertility rate based on PPPR declined from 5.21 in 1960 to 2.76 in 1980, and 1.69 in 2000. The family planning programs were successful in meeting the needs of families that wanted to prevent further childbearing after having achieved the desired family size during $1960{\sim}1970$. The 1980s mark two important landmarks: achievement of replacement fertility and emergence of high sex ratio at birth. In the 1990s the "quality and welfare" approach was emphasized. In 2000s, South Korea's fertility is one of the lowest in the world. In response to this, in 2005, the Government adopted a new population policy with the goal of increasing the total fertility level to 1.6 by 2010. The results of this study indicate that proportion of women who would have no children at all throughout their reproductive life span increased substantially from 10% in 1995 to 16% in 2000, with a sharp increase since 1997. Thus, pro-natal programs need to address the problems associated with marriage and having the first child. Towards that, it is important that work and family life become more compatible.