Difficulties conceiving and relationship stability in sub-Saharan Africa : the case of Ghana

Fledderjohann, Jasmine (2017) Difficulties conceiving and relationship stability in sub-Saharan Africa : the case of Ghana. European Journal of Population, 33 (1). pp. 129-152. ISSN 0168-6577

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Abstract

Little is known about the relationship between self-identified difficulties conceiving, biomedical infertility, and union instability in sub-Saharan Africa. Previous research suggests that infertility increases the risk of psychological distress and marital conflict, encourages risky sexual behavior, and deprives infertile individuals and couples of an important source of economic and social capital. Qualitative research has suggested that there may be a link between infertility and divorce; less is known about the implications of infertility for unmarried couples. In this paper, discrete-time hazard models are applied to 8 waves of secondary panel data from Ghana collected by the Population Council of New York and the University of Cape Coast (pooled n=10,418) between 1998 and 2004. Results show a positive relationship between perceived difficulties conceiving and relationship instability for both married women and those in nonmarital sexual unions; this relationship, however, does not hold for biomedical infertility. Future research should examine this relationship using nationally representative data in a cross-national comparison to determine whether results hold across the subcontinent.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
European Journal of Population
Additional Information:
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10680-016-9401-5
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3317
Subjects:
?? infertility event history analysissub-saharan africaghana relationship stabilitydemography ??
ID Code:
82470
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
15 Nov 2016 13:04
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 16:28