10.3886/ICPSR04538.v7 Axinn, William G. Thornton, Arland Barber, Jennifer S. Murphy, Susan A. Ghimire, Dirgha Fricke, Thomas Matthews, Stephen Dangol, Dharma Pearce, Lisa Biddlecom, Ann Shrehtha, Sundar Massey, Douglas Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research 2007 agriculture birth control child rearing children communities commuting (travel) contraception families family planning family structure health care health services utilization household composition living arrangements marriage neighborhood characteristics neighborhoods prenatal care social change social environment 2007-01-18 2012-11-14 1997 2002 survey data 4538 7 The study was designed to investigate the influence of changing social contexts on family formation behaviors, marriage, childbearing, and contraceptive use. The research investigates the extent to which changes in the community produce changes in family formation behavior, and whether the family organization of individual life courses produces these changes in behavior. The study used a combination of ethnographic and survey research methods to gather 171 neighborhood histories, 142 school histories, 118 health service histories, 20 bus route histories, household farming practices, family planning histories, and household composition in Western Chitwan, Nepal. Personal histories were gathered from the 5,271 individuals ages 15-59 years living in these neighborhoods using a semi-structured Life History Calendar and a highly structured survey questionnaire. The sample neighborhoods for this study were chosen to represent the neighborhoods in Western Chitwan, including each of the five major ethnic groups inhabiting the area: high caste Hindus, hill Tibeto-Burmese (such as Gurung, Tamang, and Magar), indigenous terai Tibeto-Burmese (such as Tharu, Darai, and Kumal), Newar, and other caste Hindus. Neighborhood history calendars measured the neighborhood's distance, in terms of minutes walking, to a variety of organizations and services. Schools were defined as places of instruction for children of any age or grade. Health clinics were defined as any places of care and healing, such as doctors' offices, hospitals, and health posts. Employers were any places that employed 10 or more people for pay. Cinemas were movie theaters or halls where movies were shown. Bus stops were any places where people could obtain a ride for pay on a vehicle.