S TUDENTS of human fertility have long suspected some relationship between social mobility and reproduction. This hypothesis has been associated with the name of Arsene Dumont for over fifty years but not until recently has it been studied inductively.2 The data gathered in the Indianapolis Study make it possible to examine the relationship of intergenerational social mobility to both fertility and fertility planning. The present hypothesis was not one of those formulated by the Indianapolis Study Committee. Consequently the data at hand for its investigation are less adequate than they might have been had the investigation of this problem been planned at the outset.

The prevalence nature and strength of parental regardi ng sex of children is examined using data from the 1941 Indianapolis study. In particular data relevant to the hypothesis preferences regarding the sex of children affect the size of is analyzed. Couples were asked about their sex if they could have only 1 or 2 children and about the degree to which their desire for a child of a certain sex influenced them to have their last child. In general the data supported the hypothesis that regarding sex affect family size but they also indicate that this factor is not a major determinant of family size except among a small proportion of couples. About 53% of the wives and 42% of the husbands expressed no preference as to the sex of an only child. Among the remaining the husbands strongly preferred a boy while the wives preferred a girl only to a small degree. Generally preferred sex of 1 or 2-child families tended to correspond with the actual sex of such families. Preferences regardi ng sex of children seemed an important determinant of fertility among couples whose first or first 2 children were not of the sex preferred. These people continued to have children until they did have 1 or 2 of the sex or sexes preferred then had not more. The most common form of sex preference among both husbands and wives seems to be a desire for at least 1 child of each sex.

rT _HE extent to which childlessness and small families result from defects in the reproductive system and from deliberate efforts to space pregnancies, limit their number, and terminate them by illegal abortion is a question which has been discussed at length. The case histories accumulated by physicians and (more recently) planned parenthood clinics, as well as the field studies of demographers, show conclusively that an important proportion of childless couples want a child but either are not able to conceive or, if conception occurs, the wife cannot carry the fetus to term. Similarly, some of the couples with one or more children want an additional child but are physiologically unable to have it. At the same time such records and the information regarding the manufacture of contraceptive materials and appliances make clear the fact that efforts to prevent conception except when desired are widespread and effective. Finally, these sources and surveys by other agencies indicate that an important proportion of unwanted pregnancies are terminated by illegal abortion.2 Heretofore, however, there