Scarcity mindset in reproductive health decision making

A qualitative study from rural Malawi

Bibliographic Data

ID15098544
AuthorsAlison Holt Norris (0000-0002-1864-9583, The Ohio State University, corresponding author), Nisha Rao (The Ohio State University), Sarah Huber‐krum (0000-0003-0938-252X, The Ohio State University), Sarah Huber-Krum (The Ohio State University), Sarah Garver (0000-0001-9850-4685, The Ohio State University), Elly Chemey (Child Legacy International, Lilongwe, Malawi), Abigail Norris Turner (0000-0003-2463-6399, The Ohio State University)
Year2019
Volume21
Issue12
Pages1333-1348
Publication date2019-12-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2018.1562092
PMID30762482
OpenAlexW2912457522
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited33

Poverty has widespread impacts on health. In dealing with resource scarcity, individuals’ thoughts are narrowed to address immediate resource limitations, thus crowding out other information, a phenomenon called the scarcity mindset. To assess for indication of a scarcity mindset in sexual and reproductive decision making in rural Malawi, a setting with extreme resource scarcity, we collected qualitative data in the form of eight focus group discussions and 28 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with women and men of varying ages and marital status. Participants, who were of low socioeconomic status, described constant tradeoffs that they made to secure their daily needs. They articulated both the challenges of supporting many children and the need to bear many children to guarantee their own future support. While participants described wealthy people as being concerned with preserving resources (often through the practice of limiting childbearing), they described poor people as working to increase their probability of success against an uncertain economic future (without due consideration of contraceptive behaviours). We found qualitative evidence that a scarcity mindset may influence reproductive decision making among women and men in rural Malawi and may preclude the use of contraception in low-resource settings

Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Mindset · Population · Poverty · Qualitative research · Reproductive health · Scarcity · Social science · Socioeconomic status · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Global Maternal and Child Health · Medicine · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Contraception