SOCIAL EFFECTS AND CHANGES IN REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR

虽然众所周知，个人行为可能是预测 在潜在的社会影响，具体机制， 这种影响的运作方式仍然知之甚少。社会 众所周知，影响在转变中发挥了重要作用， 传统农业和改变许多国家的生殖行为 第三世界国家在过去的四十年里。在联合 国家，社会或邻里的影响被认为是重要的 避孕药具使用和性行为的决定因素，特别是 在青少年和高风险人群中， 艾滋病和其他性传播疾病。外部信息 项目在激励变革方面也发挥着重要作用， 行为和实践，以及社会效应 上面描述这些计划的有效性将是 如果他们的设计考虑到社会因素， 与个人行为变化相关的外部性。的 拟议的研究试图区分两种选择， 社会效应、同伴影响和社会学习，作为独立的 个人行为变化的决定因素。这个理论是 应用于研究Matlab地区避孕药具使用的变化， 孟加拉国.国际腹泻病中心 研究，孟加拉国（ICDDR，B）发起了一项计划生育方案 1977年在马拉贝地区的70个村庄进行了调查。而 ICDDR，B计划生育方案显然有助于 这对避孕药具使用率的提高有很大影响， 在不同地区的采用率仍然存在很大差异， 我们试图解释的治疗区的村庄， 上面提到的社会影响。Matlab数据集为我们提供 有一个独特的机会来研究社会效应在 自细化到户的个体决策 每个社会单位（村庄）都有信息， 延长时间。除了数据的丰富性， 研究发展中国家农村家庭的一个真实的优势是， 农村的组成仍然相对 随着时间的推移保持稳定，使我们能够准确地测量社会 兴趣的影响及其在改变个人行为中的作用。 而实证结果将在一个特定的 制度环境，他们可能会更广泛 相关的;为我们提供一个相对的理解 其他社会影响的重要性以及 这种社会效应的运作机制。的结果 因此，这项研究可以扩大， 旨在改变性取向的信息程序的优化设计 在美国的行为和实践。

While it is well known that individual behavior may be predicated on underlying social influences, the specific mechanism through which such influences operate remains poorly understood. Social effects are known to have played an important role in transforming traditional agriculture and changing reproductive behavior in many third world countries over the past four decades. In the United States, social or neighborhood effects are believed to be important determinants of contraceptive use and sexual behavior, especially among teenagers and population-groups at high-risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. External information programs also play a significant role in motivating changes in behavior and practice, in conjunction with the social effects described above. The effectiveness of such programs would be greatly enhanced if their design took account of the social externality associated with changes in individual behavior. The proposed research attempts to distinguish between two alternative social effects, peer-influence and social learning, as independent determinants of changes in individual behavior. The theory is applied to study changes in contraceptive use in Matlab district, Bangladesh. The International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) launched a family planning program covering seventy villages in Matlab district in 1977. While the ICDDR,B family planning program has clearly contributed significantly to the increased prevalence of contraceptive use, there remains substantial variation in the rate of adoption across villages in the treatment area which we attempt to explain through the social effects mentioned above. The Matlab data-set provides us with a unique opportunity to study the role of social effects in individual decision-making since detailed household-level information is available within each social unit (village) over an extended period of time. In addition to the richness of the data, a real advantage of studying rural households in a developing country is that the composition of the village remains relatively stable over time, allowing us to accurately measure the social effects of interest and their role in changing individual behavior. While the empirical results will be obtained in a particular institutional environment they are likely to be more broadly relevant; providing us with an understanding of the relative importance of the alternative social effects as well as the mechanism through which such social effects operate. The results of the study could consequently be extended to contribute to the optimal design of information programs aimed at changing sexual behavior and practice in the United States.