Social Structure and Variation in the Family Formation Process: The Case of Age at First Marriage and Duration between First Marriage and First Birth in selected sub-Saharan African Countries

The present study employed the Cox proportional hazard regression model to examine the effect of select socio-demographic factors on the family formation process in five sub-Saharan African countries using the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data for the respective countries. Specifically, the study examined the effects of education, residence, religion and age at first marriage on age at first marriage, age at first birth and the duration between first marriage and first childbirth in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia. On the whole, we found that Ghana has the highest median age at first marriage, while Ethiopia has the lowest median age at first marriage. Both level of urbanisation and education were inversely related to the proportion of women ever married in all five countries. While education was positively associated with age at first marriage in all five countries, it was negatively associated with duration between marriage and first birth in all the countries with the exception of Ghana. With the exception of Ghana and Nigeria, there were no statistically significant differences in the median age at first marriage between rural and urban areas in Ethiopia and Kenya; the hazard of early marriage was higher in urban than rural settings in Zambia

Teenage pregnancy among unmarried teenagers in Malawi: Does sex of the household head matter?

The role of parents, especially the household head, is very crucial in the sexual values and behaviour of teenagers. This study used the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) data of 2015-16 to examine the impact of sex of the household head on pregnancy outcomes among unmarried teenagers in Malawi. Using STATA 14, the data was analysed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate level of analysis. The multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the association between sex of the household head and teenage pregnancy. Results showed that teenage pregnancy was higher among unmarried females living in female-headed households (OR 2.54; CI: 1.01-6.43) compared to females from male-headed households. The study also found that unmarried teenagers with secondary and higher education had lower risk of teenage pregnancy (OR 0.53; CI: 0.40-0.72) compared to those with no education and primary education. The study concludes that teenage pregnancy is higher in femaleheaded households, a finding which suggests that parenting styles differ between male and female heads of households. Policyinterventions in regard to sex education should be specific to the sex of the household heads in which teenage girls reside, while unmet need for contraceptives among teenagers should also be addressed. Keywords: Teenage pregnancy; unmarried teenagers; reproductive health; sex of household head; Malaw

Family predictors of adolescent substance use: the case of high school students in the Cape Metropolitan Area, Cape Town, South Africa

Family predictors of tobacco and alcohol use were studied in random samples of school-going Black, Coloured, and White adolescents (total N=1,800) in the Cape Town Metropolitan Area. The subjects ranged in age from 14 to 17 years, with a mean age of 15.95 years. Logistic regression analysis of the data showed invariance across the three racial groups in terms of the specific family variables that were predictive, as well as their direction and magnitude of association with substance use. Essentially, higher rates of substance use for all three groups were predicted by parental behavioural control, parental monitoring/knowledge and limit setting, marital relations and family stress. The findings extend the work on South African adolescent substance use by providing a view into the proximal (family) socialising forces that are related to substance use. The findings also extend the broader work on identifying specialised effects of dimensions of socialization on adolescent functioning. The discussion section includes commentary on the cultural invariance found when measuring socialising forces at this level of generality.Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2006, 18(1): 7–1