Son Preference, Fertility and Family Structure : Evidence from Reproductive Behavior among Nigerian Women

Milazzo, Annamaria

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ADULT MORTALITY;    ADULTS;    AGED;    AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION;    ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6869
RP-ID  :  WPS6869

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Strong boy-bias and its consequences foryoung and unborn girls have been widely documented for Asia.This paper considers a country in Sub-Saharan Africa andfinds that parental gender preferences do affect fertilitybehavior and shape traditional social institutions withnegative effects on adult women's health andwell-being. Using individual-level data for Nigeria, thepaper shows that, compared to women with first-born sons,women with first-born daughters have (and desire) morechildren and are less likely to use contraceptives. Womenwith daughters among earlier-born children are also morelikely to have shorter birth intervals, a behavior medicallyknown to increase the risk of child and maternal mortality.Moreover, they are more likely to end up in a polygynousunion, to be divorced, and to be head of the household. Thepreference for sons is also supported by child fosteringpatterns in which daughters are substitutes for fostergirls, while the same does not hold for sons and fosterboys. These results can partly explain excess femalemortality among adult women in Sub-Saharan Africa.