Family and Health Consequences of Imbalanced Sex Ratios in India

描述(申请人提供)：印度长期以来一直存在女性数量短缺的问题，随着性别选择性堕胎技术的广泛采用，这种性别比例失衡可能会加剧。尽管大量研究已经记录了印度人口性别比例的水平、趋势和差异，但我们对印度男女数量不平衡对关键的家庭、人口和健康相关行为的后果知之甚少。该项目使用了三个不同来源的数据--2005-06年全国家庭健康调查(NFHS-3)、2004-05年印度人类发展调查(IHDs)以及1981年、1991年和2001年印度人口普查，以考察印度不平衡的人口性别比对关键家庭形成行为的影响(例如结婚年龄、生育率、离婚可能性、社会和地理异族通婚、嫁妆的价值)；关于性行为和健康结果(例如，首次性行为的年龄、婚前性行为和婚外性行为、性伴侣的数量、商业性行为、强迫性行为、性传播疾病的感染，包括艾滋病毒/艾滋病)；关于基于性别的家庭动态(例如，妇女在家庭决策中的作用、妇女赋权和自主权的其他方面、家庭暴力)；以及关于妇女的社会经济成就(例如，妇女识字、教育程度、劳动力参与、职业成就)。多水平固定效应和随机效应回归模型将估计用人口普查数据测量的当地婚姻市场性别比对NFHS-3和IHD测量的这些结果的影响。通过利用印度各地成年人性别比例在年龄和地理上的巨大差异，并应用适用于多层次数据结构分析的统计技术，拟议的分析有望极大地增强我们对印度男性相对于女性日益过剩的情况的理解，这将如何影响家庭生活和人口健康的多个维度。 与公共卫生相关：印度是世界上人口第二多的国家，预计到2050年将成为最大的国家。印度日益严重的性别比例失衡有可能在很大程度上改变人口和家庭相关行为的多个方面，包括导致艾滋病毒/艾滋病传播的性行为。因此，更多地了解印度日益增长的男性过剩和女性赤字对家庭和健康的影响是一个重要的科学目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): India has long experienced a numerical shortage of females, and this sex ratio imbalance is likely to grow with the widespread adoption of sex-selective abortion technologies. Although considerable research has documented levels, trends, and differentials in India's population sex ratio, we know little about the consequences of India's imbalance in the numbers of women and men for critical family, demographic, and health-related behaviors. This project uses data from three different sources-the 2005-06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), the 2004-05 India Human Development Survey (IHDS), and the 1981, 1991, and 2001 Censuses of India-to examine the impact of India's imbalanced population sex ratio on key family formation behaviors (e.g., age at marriage, fertility, likelihood of divorce, social and geographic exogamy, the values of dowries); on sexual behaviors and health outcomes (e.g., age at first sex, engagement in premarital and extramarital sex, number of sexual partners, commercial sex, forced sex, and contraction of sexually-transmitted disease, including HIV/AIDS); on gendered family dynamics (e.g., women's roles in household decision-making, other dimensions of women's empowerment and autonomy, domestic violence); and on women's socioeconomic attainment (e.g., women's literacy, educational attainment, labor force participation, occupational attainment). Multilevel fixed-effect and random-effect regression models will estimate the impact of the local marriage market sex ratio, measured with census data, on these outcomes measured in the NFHS-3 and the IHDS. By capitalizing on the substantial age-graded and geographic variation in adult sex ratios across India, and by applying statistical techniques appropriate for the analysis of multilevel data structures, the proposed analysis holds promise for substantially enhancing our understanding of how India's increasing overabundance of males relative to females will affect multiple dimensions of family life and population health. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: India is the world's second most populous country and projected to become the largest by 2050. Growing imbalances in India's sex ratio have the potential to alter substantially multiple dimensions of demographic and family-related behavior, including the sexual behaviors that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Consequently, learning more about the family and health consequences of India's growing male surplus and female deficit is an important scientific objective.