New tests may provide fertility 'deadline.' A test developed by Iranian researchers could let women, even in their 20s, predict within a few months when they will stop being fertile. The test measures levels of a hormone produced in the ovaries that controls development of egg cells. Of 63 women who reached menopause during the study, the average difference between the predicted age and the actual age the women reached menopause was just a third of a year, according to one report. 'The results from our study could enable us to make a more realistic assessment of women's reproductive status many years before they reach menopause,' the lead researcher said in a news release. Meanwhile, another new test, described here, claims to predict when a women's ovaries will start to fail. Would you want to know any fertility issues in advance, in order to help make family-planning decisions? Or does that creep you out?

一些新的測試方法或許能告訴你自己的生育“最后期限”。一項由伊朗研究人員研發(fā)的測試方法讓女性能在幾個月時間內(nèi)預測出自己將會在何時失去生育能力,即便是二十多歲的女性也可以預測,具體的方法是檢測控制卵細胞生長的卵巢所產(chǎn)生的一種激素的水平。有一份報告顯示,在接受研究期間有63名女性進入更年期,檢測出的她們進入更年期的年齡與實際年齡之間的平均差異只有4個月。該研究的負責人在一份新聞稿中說,我們的研究結果使我們能在女性進入更年期的許多年前就對她們的生育能力進行更加接近實際的評估。另外一項新的測試方法則宣稱能預測女性的卵巢從何時開始衰竭。你是想通過這些方法提前了解自己的生育能力以做出“造人”決定呢?還是會對這些方法敬而遠之呢?

Delaying kids may pay off financially. A new study found that delaying kids may prevent a financial 'motherhood penalty,' the pay gap between childless women and working moms. Researchers reviewed 35 years of data from some 2,200 women and found that women who had kids in their early- to mid-20s or even younger didn't fare as well economically as those who delayed, USA Today reported. The research found women who got more education and job training before having children end up as successful economically as women who didn't have kids.

推遲要寶寶也許能換來經(jīng)濟上的回報?!督袢彰绹?USA Today)報道,一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn),推遲要孩子或許能避免“為人母的經(jīng)濟懲罰”,也就是做了母親的上班族與無子女女性上班族與之間的收入差距。研究者在研究了約2,200名女性35年的數(shù)據(jù)后發(fā)現(xiàn),在二十五六歲或是二十歲出頭甚至更年輕的時候有了孩子的女性,她們的經(jīng)濟收入不如那些晚育女性。該研究還發(fā)現(xiàn),在生育前接受了更多教育和職業(yè)培訓的女性,她們最終的經(jīng)濟狀況不亞于那些沒有生育過的女性。

More women in their 40s childless. Nearly one in five American women in her early 40s is childless, according to a Pew study, a large increase from years past. The trend was much less common in the 1970s, when one in 10 women did not have children by 40 to 44, the age bracket researchers use to designate the end of childbearing years, the Washington Post reported. The report cites social and cultural shifts behind the change, including less pressure to have children, better contraceptive measures and expanded job opportunities for women, said the Post.

越來越多四十多歲的女性沒有孩子?!度A盛頓郵報》(Washington Post)報道,據(jù)皮尤中心(Pew)的一項研究,40至44歲的美國女性中有近五分之一沒有子女,這一比例較前幾年有大幅上升。這種情況在上世紀七十年代要少見得多,當時40至44歲的女性中只有十分之一沒有孩子。研究者認為40至44歲這一年齡段是多數(shù)女性生育能力的終結時期。報道提到了這一變化背后所蘊含的社會和文化轉變,包括必須生小孩的壓力減小、避孕措施更加完備以及女性就業(yè)機會的增加。