Beyond Orphanhood: Parental Nonresidence and Child Well‐being in Tanzania

Abstract

This article used data from the Rufiji Health and Demographic Surveillance System in Tanzania to examine the influence of parental non-residence on child survival and school entry. Using survival analysis methods, the article tested variations by parent and by cause, examining parental death, non-residence due to parental relationship status, and migration. In general, maternal non-residence was more consequential for child survival, while paternal non-residence influences school entry. This is consistent with gendered parenting patterns in the setting. There was important variation by cause and by outcome, particularly for paternal non-residence. Paternal non-residence due to non-marital birth was associated with increased risk of child death, while paternal migration was associated with improved survival. Paternal death and migration were associated with lower odds of school entry. This article moves beyond orphanhood to consider multiple causes of parental non-residence simultaneously, demonstrating that parental non-residence is not uniformly deleterious for children.

Polygynous marriage and child health in sub-Saharan Africa: What is the evidence for harm?

“…HDSS projects, of which there are now over 30 across Africa, fill an important gap in high quality population-based data, collecting information from whole communities with a core focus on regular demographic monitoring supplemented by additional socioeconomic and health surveys. While these datasets have been used to explore associations between alternative dimensions of family structure (e.g., parental death and non-residence: Houle et al 2015;Gaydosh 2017), to our knowledge they have not yet been used to explore the health consequences of polygyny. Future research also needs to move away from simply estimating correlations between polygyny and child health and to move towards a more principled investigation of the mediating pathways through which polygyny may influence health outcomes (Section 3).…”

An Enduring Institution? Child Fostering in Sub‐Saharan Africa

“…This study is unique in that it focuses solely on fostering arrangements of living mothers. Studies of fostering often focus on the child or the receiving household as the unit of analysis with few details of mother's characteristics, whether fostered children are orphans (Beegle et al 2010;Goldberg and Short 2012;Nyambedha, Wandibba, and Aagaard-Hansen 2003;Tanga 2013) or nonorphans (Archambault and de Laat 2010;Bachan 2014;Gaydosh 2019;Page 1989). These studies provide important details on the circumstances in which fostered children live, but rarely offer insight into the living mothers of nonorphaned fostered children and how mothers' characteristics and background may influence the likelihood of fostering.…”

“…Though much of the recent literature on fostering has focused on orphaned children as a result of ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemics particularly in Southern and Eastern Africa (Goldberg and Short 2012;Madhavan 2004;Nyambedha, Wandibba, and Aagaard-Hansen 2003;Parker and Short 2009;Tanga 2013), growing attention has highlighted the role that fostering plays when living biological parents do not coreside with their children (Bachan 2014;Gaydosh 2019Gaydosh , 2017Gaydosh , 2015Grant and Yeatman 2014;Lachaud, LeGrand, and Kobiané 2016). Indeed, the risk of maternal absence is often greater as a result of fostering, marital transitions, or migration than from maternal death (Gaydosh 2015), suggesting that a focus on orphaned children alone may miss fostering that occurs for reasons beyond parental death.…”

Stepfather families and children's schooling in sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-national study

“…Although SSA is diverse in terms of sociocultural norms and practices, it is commonly accepted that this context is segregated in terms of gender roles and that they are unequal for women, particularly married women (Adjiwanou and LeGrand 2014;Gaydosh 2017;Kabeer 2016;Ohenaba-Sakyi and Takyi 2006). Various aspects of gender inequality have been reported in the literature; they include the practice of purdah, or seclusion, which limits women's interaction with others or their mobility outside the household (Kritz and Makinwa-Adebusoye 1999), as well as the multiple domestic duties that society expects from women (Amoakohene 2004).…”