Women’s Educational Attainment and the Timing of Parenthood in Ghana: A Cohort Perspective

This paper examines the effects of women’s educational attainment on the timing of parenthood in Ghana. Given the more enhanced career opportunities in recent years, it is argued that the opportunity cost of parenthood may be higher for contemporary educated women, and as such, they are expected to delay parenthood for longer periods than their counterparts in the past. Using data from the 1998 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, we found that while higher educational attainment was associated with delayed parenthood, significant cohort differences were noticeable. Consistent with our expectations, the effect of higher educational attainment was substantially greater among younger women, indicating a longer transition to parenthood. Besides educational attainment, religion, ethnicity, age at marriage birth, and place of residence were also found to associate with the timing of parenthood

Polygamous Marital Structure and Child Survivorship in Ghana: Age Dependent Effect?

A key limitation of existing research on the influence of family structure on child outcomes in cultures characterized by widespread polygamy is the implicit view of marriage as monolithic and by default monogamous. In the African context, there is the need to make a distinction between polygamous and monogamous mothers since these marital circumstances imply varying levels of parental support necessary for optimum child outcomes. Using data from the 1998 and 2003 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys, this paper assesses the effects of polygamy on child survivorship. The study is guided by competing theses on the interconnectedness between polygamy and child survival. These findings are discussed in relation to the main theoretical paradigms

Ethnicity and Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Ghana

This study is premised on the hypothesis that ethnic specific socio-cultural practices such as dietary taboos and food avoidances on mothers and infants, as well as perceptions of disease aetiology and treatment patterns may be salient to infant mortality differentials in Ghana. To inform policy the paper explores if there are significant ethnic differences in the risk of infant death, and whether such differences are due to intrinsic cultural norms or socio-economic disparities. Using data on 3298 recent births from the 1998 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, the bivariate results indicated significant ethnic differences. Relative to Asante children, the risk of death was significantly higher among children whose mothers were Mole-Dagbanis, Grussi, Gruma, Dagarti and Fanti. In the multivariate models, however, the ethnic differences (Fanti excepted) disappeared once socio-economic variables were controlled. This implies that observed ethnic differences in infant morality mainly reflect socio-economic disparities among groups rather than intrinsic cultural norms. To improve child survival, efforts should be geared towards enhancing the socio-economic status of women from the disadvantaged ethnic groups

Fertility Response to Childhood Mortality in Sub-Saharan with Emphasis on Ghana and Kenya

Notwithstanding the extensive social scientific research, there are still unanswered questions regarding the persistence of high fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. Although fertility behaviour depends on multiplicity of factors, childhood mortality is regarded as an important determinant.However, while the theoretical pathways through which infant and child mortality affect fertility are well understood, the empirical evidence has been inconsistent. Thus, the unsettled nature of the link between childhood mortality and fertility was a major motivation for this study. Methodologically, the paper examines the usefulness of frailty models in exploring the childhood mortality-fertility relationships using DHS data from Ghana and Kenya. Invariably, women with prior infant deaths were found to have more subsequent births than those without mortality experience, suggesting both a physiological and behavioral response. While corroborating this finding, the multivariate results demonstrated that models without unobserved heterogeneity tended to produce biased estimates. Comparing Ghana and Kenya, there were significant differences in the effects of childhood mortality on subsequent births. At all parities, the fertility response to mortality was found to be larger in Ghana, perhaps suggesting a negative relationship between fertility response and the stage of fertility transition

Lagged Effect of Childhood Mortality on Reproductive Behavior in Ghana and Kenya

This paper goes beyond the physiological impact of infant deaths on fertility by examining whether such deaths elicit an explicit, conscious and intentional fertility response in sub-Saharan Africa. The major research questions are: what are the long term implications of childhood mortality on reproductive behavior? Does the death of the first child, for instance, affect the risk of a higher order birth? These questions are examined using DHS data from Ghana and Kenya. At each parity, women with childhood mortality experience were found to have a higher number of subsequent than those without. Additionally, multivariate results suggest that infant deaths tend to have a long term impact on reproductive behaviour. The death of the first child in particular was found to associate with the risk of a higher order birth. This is probably because first births in most African cultures are deemed special and as such their death as infants has a long term effect on a woman’s reproductive behaviour. From a policy perspective, these finding suggest that improvement in child survival programs could significantly improve fertility through both the biological and behavioural effects

The Dynamics of Spacing and Timing of Births in Ghana

Studying the dynamics of timing and spacing of births is important for several reasons including an understanding of completed family size as well as maternal and child mortality differentials. Using the 1998 DHS data, this paper examines whether there are intrinsic socio-cultural factors that affect the duration of birth intervals in Ghana. The results suggest that while most socio-cultural differences are mediated through socio-economic and demographic factors, there is the persistence of ethnic-specific norms and practices that affect the timing of births. At all durations, Ewes and Mole- Dagbanis were consistently found to have longer intervals between successive births than Akans. This has been explained through to ethnic differences in unobservable norms and observable practices such as lineage patterns, duration of the period of post-partum sexual abstinence and amenorrhoea. Besides the socio-economic and socio-cultural factors, other consistently significant covariates were age at first birth, birth cohorts and the survival status of the index. Age at first marriage was found to associate only with the timing of the first two children

Polygynous marital structure and child survivorship in sub-Saharan Africa: Some empirical evidence from Ghana

Although studies have found children in married families to have better health outcomes than those in other family types, this strand of research implicitly views marriage as monolithic and, by default, monogamous as found in western industrialized societies. In polygynous cultures, there is a need to make a distinction between polygynous and monogamous families, because these marital arrangements might imply varying levels of parental support necessary for optimum child outcomes. Using pooled children's data from the 1998 and 2003 (N = 4938) Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys, this study investigates the effects of polygynous marital structure on child survivorship and assesses whether the effect is uniform over the entire childhood period. In models that did not allow for age-specific effects of polygyny, children in polygynous marriages were found to have an elevated risk of death. Further analysis revealed that only older children experienced the survival disadvantages associated with polygyny.Ghana Sub-Saharan Africa Child mortality Family structure Marriage Polygyny Children