Food Insecurity and Family Structure in Nigeria

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThe article explores a series of questions and hypotheses related to polygynous family structures and both household and individual-level food security outcomes, using the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Survey data from Nigeria, collected in 2011, 2013 model is used to examine the relationship between polygyny and household-level food security, and the degree to which it is mediated by household wealth, size, and livelihood. A Household Fixed Effect model is employed to explore whether a mother's status as monogamous versus polygynous relates systematically to her child's health, and also whether child outcomes of senior wives are better than outcomes of junior wives within polygynous households. At the household level, polygynous households are found to have better food security outcomes than monogamous households with differences in household composition and agricultural livelihood as potential explanatory mechanisms. At the individual level, however, children of polygynous mothers have worse nutrition outcomes than children of monogamous mothers in the long run. Within polygynous households, children of junior wives appear to have better nutritional outcomes in the long run, compared to children of more senior wives.

Demographic considerations and food security in Nigeria

“…At the individual level, we also find that Muslim children, girls and children that reside in polygynous households have worse nutritional outcomes. The finding that children from polygynous households have worse food security outcome than children from monogamous households is consistent with existing literature (Han and Foltz 2015;Owoo 2018). This is because women in monogamous households may enjoy higher bargaining power, which allows them to allocate sufficient resources to their children.…”

“…Despite the prevalence of studies on household food security, fewer studies have attempted to examine food security using individual-level measures. Indeed, food security is best considered individually, since different members of the same households can experience different outcomes based on gender, age, culture or other factors (Owoo 2018). Saaka et al (2017) examined determinants of dietary diversity of children resident in rural parts of Northern Ghana.…”

Land tenure and property rights, and household food security among rice farmers in Northern Nigeria

“…A number of studies (e.g. Babatunde and Qaim, 2010;Owoo, 2018) tried to circumvent this shortcoming by complementing their expenditure measure with anthropometric measures (e.g. stunting and wasting among children in the households) to accommodate the long-term as well as individual household members' dimensions of HFS.…”

Social Context of Child Survival Strategies among Mothers in Polygynous Marriages in Ibadan, Nigeria

“…Place of residence of the mothers in polygynous marriages plays a significant role to the survival of children. Owo (2018) posits that the average household size of polygynous household is 9.43 members. This has negative health implications for under-five children who could easily contact infectious diseases due to overcrowded households.…”

“…Marriage is not complete without children in the home. It is the presence of children that constitutes a family (Owoo and Bageant, 2017). In fact, children are the core of polygynous family as wives compete among themselves for more children.…”