Peer-reviewed article
"Cementing" marriages through childbearing in subsequent unions: Insights into fertility differentials among first-time married and remarried women in Ghana.
Gertrude E Elleamoh, Fidelia A A Dake ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined why fertility rates differ between women in their first marriage and women who have remarried in Ghana. Using data from over 6,000 women, researchers found that remarried women had higher fertility when not accounting for other factors, but this difference disappeared when accounting for factors like age and education. Remarried women were more likely to want more children and less likely to use contraception than first-time married women. The study suggests that understanding the distinct fertility needs of remarried women is important.
Key points
- Remarried women had higher fertility than first-time married women in unadjusted analysis, but this difference was not significant when other factors were controlled for
- Remarried women currently in union had similar fertility to first-time married women currently in union
- Remarried women not currently in union had significantly lower fertility than those in union
- Remarried women were significantly more likely to desire more children than first-time married women
- Remarried women were significantly less likely to use any method of contraception compared to first-time married women
Limitations
The study is descriptive and analytical rather than experimental, so it cannot determine causal relationships. The analysis relies on secondary data and cannot explore all contextual factors that might explain fertility differences between these groups.
Abstract
Fertility in Ghana has declined steadily since 1980, however, a slight increase was observed between 2008 and 2014. While several factors may account for this pattern, research on the contribution of type of union is limited. This study examined differentials in the fertility of women in different types of union. Secondary data from 6,285 (weighted) ever-married women aged 15-49 years were analysed using compare means, t-test, analysis of variance, Poisson and binary logistic regression analyses. The findings indicate that, independent of other factors, fertility among remarried women is higher compared to first-time married women but this does not hold true when other factors are controlled for. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the fertility of remarried women who were in union and women who were in union in a first-time marriage. However, compared to remarried women who were currently in a union, fertility was significantly lower among remarried women who were not currently in union (β = -0.121, p<0.01) and women who have been married only once but were not currently in union (β = -0.212, p<0.001). Further analysis revealed that remarried women were significantly more likely to desire more children and less likely to use any method of contraception compared to first-time married women. There is the need for further research to better understand the fertility needs of remarried women.