Arbeitsbereich

Fertilität und Wohlbefinden

Auf einen Blick Projekte Publikationen Team

Projekt

Union–Fertility Nexus and Fertility Variation in Sub-Saharan Africa (Dissertation)

Ben Malinga John (MPIDR / Stockholm University, Schweden), Natalie Nitsche, Mikko Myrskylä; in Zusammenarbeit mit Elizabeth Thomson (Stockholm University, Schweden), Vissého Adjiwanou (University of Montreal, Kanada)

Ausführliche Beschreibung

The role of union dissolution and repartnering has largely been neglected in the discourse of fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This is mainly due to the early conceptualization of the linkage between marriage and fertility; it emphasized exposure to regular sexual intercourse as the key mechanism through which union dissolution and repartnering affect fertility. This conceptualization influenced the kinds of marriage histories collected in nationally representative surveys in SSA, in several ways impeding a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between union dissolution and fertility by traditional demographic and statistical methods. Thus, it is unclear whether marital instability and repartnering account for cross-country and within-country fertility variation in this region and whether the dynamics of union dissolution and repartnering influenced the onset and pace of fertility decline in SSA.

This project positions the role (or lack thereof) of union dissolution and repartnering within the discourse of fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa. It develops methods to produce estimates from the limited marriage histories that are available in most nationally representative surveys. The goal is to explain how union dissolution and repartnering influenced fertility variation in SSA. Specifically, it addresses four key questions and several subquestions: First, what are the levels of union dissolution and remarriage in SSA, and how have they evolved over the years? Are there long-term regional patterns of union dissolution? Second, how does the fertility of women who remarry compare with that of women who marry once? How does it vary over reproductive years and the fertility transition? Third, what is the completed family size of specific cohorts? How did family size evolve over the years, and how do union dissolution and remarriage contribute to cohort fertility changes in sub-Saharan Africa? Fourth, to what extent do union dissolution and remarriage explain the level, onset, and pace of fertility decline in sub-Saharan Africa?