Ethnic differentials in child-spacing ideals and practices in Ghana

Postpartum sexual abstinence may be a major determinant of fertility and of maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines the relationship between ethnicity and abstinence using data from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. There is considerable diversity in the leng...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of biosocial science 1994-07, Vol.26 (3), p.311-326
Main Authors: Benefo, Kofi D., Tsui, Amy O., Johnson, Joseph De Graft
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Anthropology. Demography
Biological and medical sciences
Birth
Birth Intervals
Birth Spacing
Breast Feeding
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Developing Countries
Ethnic groups
Ethnic Groups - psychology
Ethnicity
Female
Ghana
Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Mothers
Population
Pregnancy
Religious beliefs
Sexual Abstinence
Sexual behaviour
Sexual Intercourse
Traditional Societies
Tropical medicine
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Summary:Postpartum sexual abstinence may be a major determinant of fertility and of maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines the relationship between ethnicity and abstinence using data from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. There is considerable diversity in the length of abstinence although only for one ethnic group, the Mole-Dagbani and other Ghanaians, is abstinence, both actual and ideal, very long. Respondents in most ethnic groups believe their abstinence to be adequate. A key motivation for abstinence is the unwillingness to have sexual intercourse with nursing mothers. Education, urbanisation, changes in marriage patterns and religious traditions are major factors shaping the ethnic differentials in abstinence. In comparison to breast-feeding, abstinence appears to have relatively little impact on the length of the birth interval and, for Ghana, has relatively few implications for fertility and child health.
ISSN:0021-9320
1469-7599
DOI:10.1017/S0021932000021404