Polygyny and Fertility: Continuity or Change in Sub-Saharan Africa.

IF 3.6 1区社会学 Q1 DEMOGRAPHY

Demography Pub Date : 2025-10-15 DOI:10.1215/00703370-12259497

Sophia Chae, Victor Agadjanian

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Abstract

This study revisits the polygyny‒fertility relationship in sub-Saharan Africa amid significant sociodemographic transformations, including declines in both fertility rates and the prevalence of polygyny. Using data from multiple rounds of the Demographic and Health Surveys across 23 African countries, we examine the contribution of polygyny to reductions in the total fertility rate (TFR), explore how the polygyny‒fertility relationship has evolved over time, and assess changes in the total number of children ever born, number of recent births, ideal fertility, and the desire for another child by polygyny status. Our findings show that the decline in polygyny has substantially contributed to reductions in TFR. While realized fertility-measured by children ever born and recent births-has declined for all married women, reductions have been greater among women in monogamous unions. Fertility preferences, including ideal fertility and the desire for another child, have decreased only among women in monogamous unions, while remaining stable for those in polygynous unions. Additionally, except for children ever born, we find minimal variation in fertility outcomes by wife's rank within polygynous unions. Taken together, these results underscore the complex influence of marriage systems on fertility and highlight the distinct fertility patterns of women in monogamous versus polygynous unions.

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一夫多妻制与生育：撒哈拉以南非洲的延续或变化。

本研究回顾了撒哈拉以南非洲地区在重大的社会人口变化中，包括生育率和一夫多妻制流行率的下降，一夫多妻制与生育率的关系。利用来自23个非洲国家的多轮人口与健康调查的数据，我们研究了一夫多妻制对降低总生育率（TFR）的贡献，探讨了一夫多妻制与生育率的关系是如何随着时间的推移而演变的，并评估了一夫多妻制状态下出生的子女总数、最近出生的子女数量、理想生育率和想要另一个孩子的愿望的变化。我们的研究结果表明，一夫多妻制的减少在很大程度上促进了总生育率的下降。虽然所有已婚妇女的实际生育率（以曾经出生的孩子和最近出生的孩子来衡量）都在下降，但一夫一妻制的妇女下降得更大。生育偏好，包括理想生育能力和再要一个孩子的愿望，只在一夫一妻制的妇女中有所下降，而在一夫多妻制的妇女中则保持稳定。此外，除了已经出生的孩子之外，我们发现在一夫多妻制联盟中，妻子的等级对生育结果的影响微乎其微。综上所述，这些结果强调了婚姻制度对生育率的复杂影响，并突出了一夫一妻制与一夫多妻制联盟中妇女的独特生育模式。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Demography DEMOGRAPHY-

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

2.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Since its founding in 1964, the journal Demography has mirrored the vitality, diversity, high intellectual standard and wide impact of the field on which it reports. Demography presents the highest quality original research of scholars in a broad range of disciplines, including anthropology, biology, economics, geography, history, psychology, public health, sociology, and statistics. The journal encompasses a wide variety of methodological approaches to population research. Its geographic focus is global, with articles addressing demographic matters from around the planet. Its temporal scope is broad, as represented by research that explores demographic phenomena spanning the ages from the past to the present, and reaching toward the future. Authors whose work is published in Demography benefit from the wide audience of population scientists their research will reach. Also in 2011 Demography remains the most cited journal among population studies and demographic periodicals. Published bimonthly, Demography is the flagship journal of the Population Association of America, reaching the membership of one of the largest professional demographic associations in the world.