We analyse Roma fertility in four neighbouring countries in Central and Eastern Europe with a large Roma minority: in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia. The sources of data are the respective national population censuses from 2011. Fertility is measured at the birth cohort level as the average number of children ever born. We make an international comparison of the fertility of Roma and non-Roma majority population women on the basis of completed education. In the case of Hungary, we also explore how the correlation between fertility and ethnic identity is modified when completed education and ethnic residential segregation are controlled. The fertility of Roma women is far above the majority population average in all birth cohorts and in each country. Educational attainment modifies this relationship. The fertility of highly educated Roma and majority population women is converging. The exposure to majority behaviour also has an effect. The lower the level of ethnic residential segregation, the smaller the difference between the fertility of Roma and majority population women. Completed education and residential segregation may exert different forces at the two ends of the educational hierarchy when their joint effect is explored. At the upper end of the social hierarchy, neither segregation nor ethnicity matters; at the lower end, however, both exposure to ethnic majority behaviour and ethnicity matter.

We analyse Roma fertility in four neighbouring countries in Central and Eastern Europe with a large Roma minority: in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia. The sources of data are the respective national population censuses from 2011. Fertility is measured at the birth cohort level as the average number of children ever born. We make an international comparison of the fertility of Roma and non-Roma majority population women on the basis of completed education. In the case of Hungary, we also explore how the correlation between fertility and ethnic identity is modifi ed when completed education and ethnic residential segregation are controlled.The fertility of Roma women is far above the majority population average in all birth cohorts and in each country. Educational attainment modifi es this relationship. The fertility of highly educated Roma and majority population women is converging. The exposure to majority behaviour also has an effect. The lower the level of ethnic residential segregation, the smaller the difference between the fertility of Roma and majority population women. Completed education and residential segregation may exert different forces at the two ends of the educational hierarchy when their joint effect is explored. At the upper end of the social hierarchy, neither segregation nor ethnicity matters; at the lower end, however, both exposure to ethnic majority behaviour and ethnicity matter.

BackgroundDDX3X syndrome is a recently identified genetic disorder that accounts for 1-3% of cases of unexplained developmental delay (DD) and/or intellectual disability (ID) in females and is associated with motor and language delays, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To date, the published phenotypic characterization of this syndrome has primarily relied on medical record review; in addition, the behavioral dimensions of the syndrome have not been fully explored.MethodsWe carried out multi-day, prospective, detailed phenotyping of DDX3X syndrome in 14 females and 1 male, focusing on behavioral, psychological, and neurological measures; three participants in this cohort have been previously reported. We compared results against population norms and contrasted phenotypes between individuals harboring either (i) protein-truncating variants or (ii) missense variants and in-frame deletions.ResultsEighty percent of individuals met criteria for ID, 60% for ASD and 53% for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Motor and language delays were common as were sensory processing abnormalities. The cohort included 5 missense, 3 intronic/splice-site, 2 nonsense, 2 frameshift, 2 in-frame deletions, and one initiation codon variant. Genotype-phenotype correlations indicated that missense variants/in-frame deletions were associated with more severe language, motor, and adaptive deficits in comparison to protein-truncating variants.LimitationsSample size is modest, however, DDX3X is a rare and underdiagnosed disorder.ConclusionThis study, representing a first, prospective, detailed characterization of DDX3X syndrome, extends our understanding of the neurobehavioral phenotype. Gold-standard diagnostic approaches demonstrated high rates of ID, ASD, and ADHD. In addition, sensory deficits were observed to be a key part of the syndrome. Even with a modest sample, we observe evidence for genotype-phenotype correlations with missense variants/in-frame deletions yielding a more severe phenotype.