Premarital Births and Union Formation in Rural South Africa

Datos Bibliográficos

ID19544852
AutoresSennott Sennott (University of the Witwatersrand, autor de correspondencia), Georges Reniers (0000-0001-6582-1692, University of Colorado Boulder), Reniers Reniers, Francesc Xavier Gómez-Olivé (0000-0002-4876-0848, University of Colorado Boulder), Gómez-Olivé Gómez-Olivé, Jane Menken (0000-0002-0008-0325), Menken Menken
Año2016
Volumen42
Número4
Páginas187
Fecha de publicación2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1944-0391 • E-ISSN: 1944-0405
EditorialGuttmacher Institute (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1363/42e2716
PMID28825898
OpenAlexW2608750381
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas16
Referencias citadas33

CONTEXT: In rural South Africa, women often delay union formation until they are in their late 20s, though premarital first births are common. METHODS: Longitudinal data from the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System in rural South Africa were used to examine the relationship between premarital birth and union entry among 55,158 nonmigrant women aged 10-35 who took part in at least one annual census from 1993 to 2012. Discrete-time event history models were used to determine whether the likelihood of union formation differed between women who had had a premarital first birth and those who had not. Associations between single motherhood and union type (marriages or nonmarital partnerships) were identified using logistic regression. RESULTS: Forty-five percent of women had had a premarital first birth and 25% had entered a first union. Women who had had a premarital first birth were less likely than other women to have entered a first union (odds ratio, 0.6). Women who had had a premarital birth in the past year were more likely than those without a premarital birth to have entered a union (1.5), but women had reduced odds of union formation if they had had a birth 1-2 years earlier (0.9) or at least five years earlier (0.8). Unions formed within two years of a premarital birth had an elevated likelihood of being nonmarital partnerships (1.2-1.4). CONCLUSIONS: Single motherhood is common in the Agincourt HDSS, and women with a premarital first birth face challenges in establishing committed unions with partners

Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Socioeconomics · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Global Maternal and Child Health · Reproductive Health and Technologies