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5. THE ANALYSIS OF REPRODUCTIVE PROCESSES IN THE POPULATION OF ELISTA

THE ANALYSIS OF REPRODUCTIVE PROCESSES IN THE POPULATION OF ELISTA

Spitsyna Nailiya (1), Spitsyn Viktor (2), Balinova Natalia (1)

1) Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; 2) Research Centre of Medical Genetics, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Spitsyna Nailiya, e-mail: nailya.47@mail.ru

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the analysis of reproductive processes in the urban population of Elista, Kalmykia, and comparative data on other urban populations of the Volga-Ural region. Within the new context of changes in demographic processes, it is interesting to assess their effects on reproduction. The study was carried out in Elista as a sample survey of 460 women older than 45 by measuring indices of potential selection (IТ) and its components following Crow’s method (1958). On average, there were 5.8177 pregnancies, 2.1448 births and 3.3224 abortions per one post-reproductive woman. The variance in the average number of children (Vf) is below the average itself, evidencing stability of reproduction. The share of obstetric pathologies (spontaneous abortions, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies and stillbirths) amounts to 0.27, which is slightly higher than in the Kazan population (0.22). Thus it could be stated that only 37% of all pregnancies ended in delivery; and accordingly 57% of pregnancies were artificially or spontaneously terminated. The study of potential selection indexes in urban populations revealed a sharp increase in the contribution of non-biological factors to the selection coefficient value: the force of social pressure is 2.9412 in Stavropol, 2.7399 in Kazan, 2.5418 in Cheboksary, 2.0595 in Saransk, 0.9930 in Syktyvkar, and 1.3092 in Elista. The employment of different methods for the calculation of the total index allowed, for the first time ever, to quantify the contribution of the social component to the value of selection coefficient in a population (Spitsyna, 2006). It is shown that artificial control of reproduction has different effects on reproductive processes in populations by diminishing individual differences in fertility selection and fitness. These results enhance our understanding of the influence of biological and environmental components on reproductive processes in human populations. The study was partly supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation for the Humanities # 12-01-00063a.

Keywords

population, potential selection, reproduction, fertility, obstetric pathology

Цит.: Spitsyna Nailiya, Spitsyn Viktor, Balinova Natalia THE ANALYSIS OF REPRODUCTIVE PROCESSES IN THE POPULATION OF ELISTA // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 82-82