IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v50y2013i5p1521-1549.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Single Motherhood and Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Life Course Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Shelley Clark
  • Dana Hamplová

Abstract

Single motherhood in sub-Saharan Africa has received surprisingly little attention, although it is widespread and has critical implications for children’s well-being. Using survival analysis techniques, we estimate the probability of becoming a single mother over women’s life course and investigate the relationship between single motherhood and child mortality in 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Although a mere 5 % of women in Ethiopia have a premarital birth, one in three women in Liberia will become mothers before first marriage. Compared with children whose parents were married, children born to never-married single mothers were significantly more likely to die before age 5 in six countries (odds ratios range from 1.36 in Nigeria to 2.61 in Zimbabwe). In addition, up to 50 % of women will become single mothers as a consequence of divorce or widowhood. In nine countries, having a formerly married mother was associated with a significantly higher risk of dying (odds ratios range from 1.29 in Zambia to 1.75 in Kenya) relative to having married parents. Children of divorced women typically had the poorest outcomes. These results highlight the vulnerability of children with single mothers and suggest that policies aimed at supporting single mothers could help to further reduce child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Copyright Population Association of America 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Shelley Clark & Dana Hamplová, 2013. "Single Motherhood and Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Life Course Perspective," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1521-1549, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:5:p:1521-1549
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-013-0220-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13524-013-0220-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-013-0220-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gyimah, Stephen Obeng, 2009. "Polygynous marital structure and child survivorship in sub-Saharan Africa: Some empirical evidence from Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 334-342, January.
    2. Anne Case & Christina Paxson & Joseph Ableidinger, 2004. "Orphans in Africa: parental death, poverty, and school enrollment," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(3), pages 483-508, August.
    3. Carlos Oya & John Sender, 2009. "Divorced, Separated, and Widowed Women Workers in Rural Mozambique," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 1-31.
    4. Rebecca London, 1998. "Trends in single mothers’ living arrangements from 1970 to 1995: Correcting the Current Population Survey," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 35(1), pages 125-131, February.
    5. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_orphansafrica is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Dorrit Posel, 2001. "Who are the heads of household, what do they do, and is the concept of headship useful? An analysis of headship in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(5), pages 651-670.
    7. Michael Bracher & Gigi Santow & Susan Watkins, 2003. ""Moving" and Marrying," Demographic Research Special Collections, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 1(7), pages 207-246.
    8. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_paxson_orphansafrica.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Sylvia Chant, 2008. "The 'Feminisation of Poverty' and the 'Feminisation' of Anti-Poverty Programmes: Room for Revision?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 165-197.
    10. Lisa Gennetian, 2005. "One or two parents? Half or step siblings? The effect of family structure on young children's achievement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(3), pages 415-436, September.
    11. Georges Reniers, 2003. "Divorce and Remarriage in Rural Malawi," Demographic Research Special Collections, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 1(6), pages 175-206.
    12. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Haddad, Lawrence & Pena, Christine, 2001. "Are women overrepresented among the poor? An analysis of poverty in 10 developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 225-269, October.
    13. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_paxson_orphansafrica is not listed on IDEAS
    14. van de Walle, Dominique, 2011. "Lasting welfare effects of widowhood in a poor country," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5734, The World Bank.
    15. Buvinic, Mayra & Gupta, Geeta Rao, 1997. "Female-Headed Households and Female-Maintained Families: Are They Worth Targeting to Reduce Poverty in Developing Countries?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(2), pages 259-280, January.
    16. Kennedy, Eileen & Peters, Pauline, 1992. "Household food security and child nutrition: the interaction of income and gender of household head," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 1077-1085, August.
    17. Fiona Steele & Wendy Sigle-Rushton & Øystein Kravdal, 2009. "Consequences of family disruption on children’s educational outcomes in norway," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(3), pages 553-574, August.
    18. Sear, Rebecca & Steele, Fiona & McGregor, Ian A. & Mace, Ruth, 2002. "The effects of kin on child mortality in rural Gambia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 247, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Onyango, Adelheid & Tucker, Katherine & Eisemon, Thomas, 1994. "Household headship and child nutrition: A case study in Western Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 1633-1639, December.
    20. Audrey Harwood-Lejeune, 2001. "Rising Age at Marriage and Fertility in Southern and Eastern Africa," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 261-280, September.
    21. repec:cai:popine:popu_p1995_50n1_0093 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Vincenzo Coviello & May Boggess, 2004. "Cumulative incidence estimation in the presence of competing risks," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(2), pages 103-112, June.
    23. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_orphansafrica.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Rebecca Sear & Fiona Steele & Ian McGregor & Ruth Mace, 2002. "The effects of kin on child mortality in rural gambia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(1), pages 43-63, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Annamaria Milazzo & Dominique Walle, 2017. "Women Left Behind? Poverty and Headship in Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 1119-1145, June.
    2. Guirkinger, Catherine & Gross, Jérémie & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2021. "Are women emancipating? Evidence from marriage, divorce and remarriage in Rural Northern Burkina Faso☆," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    3. Lauren Gaydosh, 2015. "Childhood Risk of Parental Absence in Tanzania," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(4), pages 1121-1146, August.
    4. Clifford Odimegwu & Oluwaseyi Dolapo Somefun & Joshua Akinyemi, 2017. "Gender Differences in the Effect of Family Structure on Educational Outcomes Among Nigerian Youth," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(4), pages 21582440177, November.
    5. Mikyla A. Callaghan & Dédé Watchiba & Eva Purkey & Colleen M. Davison & Heather M. Aldersey & Susan A. Bartels, 2021. "“I Don’t Know Where I Have to Knock for Support”: A Mixed-Methods Study on Perceptions and Experiences of Single Mothers Raising Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-25, October.
    6. Sangeetha Madhavan & Donatien Beguy & Shelley Clark, 2018. "Measuring extended families over time in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya: Retention and data consistency in a two-round survey," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(44), pages 1339-1358.
    7. Djuikom, Marie Albertine & van de Walle, Dominique, 2022. "Marital status and women’s nutrition in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Dallmann, D & Marquis, GS & Colecraft, EK & Dodoo, ND, 2023. "Marital Transition Is Associated With Food Insecurity, Low Dietary Diversity, And Overweight In A Female Population In Rural Ghana," African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), vol. 23(1), January.
    9. Vissého Adjiwanou & Germain Adebiyi Boco & Sanni Yaya, 2021. "Stepfather families and children's schooling in sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-national study," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(27), pages 627-670.
    10. Emily Smith-Greenaway, 2020. "Does Parents’ Union Instability Disrupt Intergenerational Advantage? An Analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 445-473, April.
    11. Monica Grant & Sara Yeatman, 2014. "The Impact of Family Transitions on Child Fostering in Rural Malawi," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(1), pages 205-228, February.
    12. Crespin-Boucaud, Juliette & Hotte, Rozenn, 2021. "Parental divorces and children’s educational outcomes in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    13. Sibel Kusimba & Yang Yang & Nitesh Chawla, 2016. "Hearthholds of mobile money in western Kenya," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 266-279, June.
    14. Castro Ayebeng & Kwamena Sekyi Dickson & Abdul-Aziz Seidu & Joshua Amo-Adjei, 2022. "Single motherhood in Ghana: analysis of trends and predictors using demographic and health survey data," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    15. Oluwatobi Abel Alawode, 2021. "Analysis of Non-Marital Fertility in Nigeria and Implications for Intervention and Future Research," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, July.
    16. Laurie F. DeRose & Gloria Huarcaya & Andrés Salazar-Arango & Marcos Agurto & Paúl Corcuera & Marga Gonzalvo-Cirac & Claudia Tarud, 2017. "Children’s Living Arrangements and On-time Progression Through School in Latin America and the Caribbean," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 184-203, June.
    17. Samuel H Nyarko & Lloyd Potter, 2021. "Levels and socioeconomic correlates of nonmarital fertility in Ghana," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-13, February.
    18. Sory Toure & John Weeks & David Lopez-Carr & Douglas Stow, 2020. "Evaluating links between dynamic urban landscapes and under-five child mortality in Accra, Ghana," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(20), pages 589-614.
    19. Nathalie Guilbert & Karine Marazyan, 2013. "Being Born Out-of-Wedlock: Does it affect a Child’s Survival Chance? An Empirical Investigation for Senegal," Working Papers DT/2013/07, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    20. Gizachew Worku Dagnew & Melash Belachew Asresie & Gedefaw Abeje Fekadu & Yared Mulu Gelaw, 2020. "Factors associated with divorce from first union among women in Ethiopia: Further analysis of the 2016 Ethiopia demographic and health survey data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-12, December.
    21. Laurie F. DeRose & Andrés Salazar-Arango & Paúl Corcuera García & Montserrat Gas-Aixendri & Reynaldo Rivera, 2017. "Maternal union instability and childhood mortality risk in the Global South, 2010–14," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(2), pages 211-228, May.
    22. Sophia Chae, 2016. "Parental Divorce and Children’s Schooling in Rural Malawi," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(6), pages 1743-1770, December.
    23. Cassandra Cotton & Shelley Clark & Sangeetha Madhavan, 2022. "“One hand does not bring up a child:” Child fostering among single mothers in Nairobi slums," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(30), pages 865-904.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lauren Gaydosh, 2015. "Childhood Risk of Parental Absence in Tanzania," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(4), pages 1121-1146, August.
    2. Ayala Wineman, 2019. "Women’s welfare and livelihoods outside of marriage: evidence from rural Tanzania," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 993-1024, September.
    3. van de Walle, Dominique, 2013. "Lasting Welfare Effects of Widowhood in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-19.
    4. Sangeetha Madhavan & Tyler W. Myroniuk & Randall Kuhn & Mark Collinson, 2017. "Household structure vs. composition: Understanding gendered effects on educational progress in rural South Africa," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(59), pages 1891-1916.
    5. Joshi, Shareen, 2004. "Female Household-Headship in Rural Bangladesh: Incidence, Determinants and Impact on Children's Schooling," Center Discussion Papers 28424, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    6. Flatø, Martin & Muttarak, Raya & Pelser, André, 2017. "Women, Weather, and Woes: The Triangular Dynamics of Female-Headed Households, Economic Vulnerability, and Climate Variability in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 41-62.
    7. Michael Rogan, 2012. "Poverty and headship in post-apartheid South Africa, 1997-2008," Working Papers 288, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    8. Annamaria Milazzo & Dominique Walle, 2017. "Women Left Behind? Poverty and Headship in Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 1119-1145, June.
    9. Sophia Chae, 2016. "Parental Divorce and Children’s Schooling in Rural Malawi," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(6), pages 1743-1770, December.
    10. Michael Rogan, 2013. "Poverty and Headship in Post-apartheid South Africa, 1997–2006," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 491-511, August.
    11. Emily Smith-Greenaway, 2020. "Does Parents’ Union Instability Disrupt Intergenerational Advantage? An Analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 445-473, April.
    12. Liu, Chia & Esteve, Albert & Treviño, Rocío, 2017. "Female-Headed Households and Living Conditions in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 311-328.
    13. Kevin Thomas, 2010. "Family Contexts and Schooling Disruption among Orphans in Post-Genocide Rwanda," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 29(6), pages 819-842, December.
    14. Bilampoa Gnoumou & Thomas LeGrand & Jean-François Kobiané, 2013. "Effects of Parental Union Dissolution on Child Mortality and Child Schooling in Burkina Faso," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(29), pages 797-816.
    15. Shareen Joshi, 2004. "Female Household-Headship in Rural Bangladesh: Incidence, Determinants and Impact on Children's Schooling Shareen Joshi," Working Papers 894, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    16. van de Walle, Dominique, 2011. "Lasting welfare effects of widowhood in a poor country," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5734, The World Bank.
    17. Oginni, Ayodeji & Ahonsi, Babatunde & Ukwuije, Francis, 2013. "Are female-headed households typically poorer than male-headed households in Nigeria?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 132-137.
    18. Álvaro José Altamirano Montoya & Karla Maria Damiano Teixeira, 2017. "Multidimensional Poverty in Nicaragua: Are Female-Headed Households Better Off?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 1037-1063, July.
    19. Emily H Emmott & Ruth Mace, 2015. "Practical Support from Fathers and Grandmothers Is Associated with Lower Levels of Breastfeeding in the UK Millennium Cohort Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-12, July.
    20. Laurie F. DeRose & Andrés Salazar-Arango & Paúl Corcuera García & Montserrat Gas-Aixendri & Reynaldo Rivera, 2017. "Maternal union instability and childhood mortality risk in the Global South, 2010–14," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(2), pages 211-228, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:5:p:1521-1549. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.