POLYGYNY AND CHILD SURVIVAL IN NIGERIA: AGE-DEPENDENT EFFECTS

Mortality risks under age five are estimated using data from the 1990 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey for children in monogamous and polygynous families. Integrating existing theories on polygyny's relationship with infant and child mortality and some demographic concepts, the study show...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of population research (Canberra, A.C.T.) A.C.T.), 2002-11, Vol.19 (2), p.155-171
Main Authors: Ukwuani, Festus A., Cornwell, Gretchen T., Suchindran, Chirayath M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Breastfeeding
Child care
Child health
Child Mortality
Childbirth
Childhood
Childrearing Practices
Children
Children & youth
Death
Economic factors
Family Structure
Fertility, Human
Health and hygiene
Health risks
Health surveys
Infant Mortality
Infants
International cooperation
Marriage
Mortality
Mortality risk
Neonates
Nigeria
Polygyny
Population
Social aspects
Socioeconomic status
Socioeconomics
Statistics
Womens health
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Summary:Mortality risks under age five are estimated using data from the 1990 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey for children in monogamous and polygynous families. Integrating existing theories on polygyny's relationship with infant and child mortality and some demographic concepts, the study shows that polygyny has different effects on infant and child mortality at different ages. The results indicate that polygyny does not have a significant effect on neonatal mortality (age less than one month). In contrast to the results of previous research, polygyny is significantly associated with lower child mortality during the post-neonatal period (1-11 months), but not during childhood (12-59 months). The study found socio-economic factors to be important confounders of the relationship between polygyny and mortality during the neonatal and post-neonatal periods. The protective effect of polygyny during the post-neonatal period suggests the need to further investigate circumstances that may favour post-neonatal child survival in polygynous families including availability of childcare.
ISSN:1443-2447
1835-9469
DOI:10.1007/bf03031975