ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by reviewing the structure and performance of a model that specifies the relative contribution of four important intermediate fertility variables. Four variables are isolated: proportion married among females; contraceptive use and effectiveness; prevalence of induced abortion; and duration of postpartum infecundability. The chapter examines a model in which body habitus, lactation, menstrual function, and fertility, are interlinked through endocrinological networks. It demonstrates systematic variation in fertility with variation in diet. The chapter aims to evaluate the efficacy of J. Bongaarts' model as a policy tool. It also examines biological determinants of fertility. The principal competing models that purport to describe and explain biological parameters attempt either to relate body weight to fecundity or to see natural fertility controlled primarily by lactation. Total fecundity (TF) is the TF rate defined as the rate of ability to reproduce, but again, only within the legitimate realm of marriage. Arguments over postpartum infecundability tend to be univariate in construction.
