Kin and Child Survival in Rural Malawi

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of kin on child survival in a matrilineal society in Malawi. Women usually live in close proximity to their matrilineal kin in this agricultural community, allowing opportunities for helping behavior between matrilineal relatives. However, there is little evidence that matrilineal kin are beneficial to children. On the contrary, child mortality rates appear to be higher in the presence of maternal grandmothers and maternal aunts. These effects are modified by the sex of child and resource ownership: female children and children in households where women, rather than men, own land suffer higher mortality rates in the presence of maternal kin. These modifiers suggest the detrimental effects of matrilineal kin may result from competition between such kin for resources. There are some positive effects of kin on child survival: the presence of elder siblings of both sexes is correlated with higher survival rates, and there is some weak evidence that paternal grandmothers may be beneficial to a child's survival chances. There is little evidence that any male kin, whether matrilineal or patrilineal, and including fathers, affect child mortality rates. This study highlights the importance of taking social and ecological context into account when investigating relationships between kin.

Does grandparental help mediate the relationship between kin presence and fertility?

“…This supports the argument that kin help may be the cause of associations between kin and reproductive outcomes, but sufficiently detailed time−budget data are difficult to collect, so that it is rare to find datasets detailed enough to directly test whether kin help influences fitness outcomes. Further, while some researchers have proposed that kin help is the mechanism by which kin influence fertility outcomes, other researchers have argued that kin influence fertility through mechanisms other than (or in addition to) the help they provide; such as interactions with kin that propagate pro-natal norms (Newson et al 2005), competition for resources among kin that outweigh the positive effects of cooperation (Sear 2008;Strassmann 2011), and sexual or in-law conflict that may alter a woman's ideal fertility strategy (Borgerhoff, Mulder, and Rauch 2009;Leonetti, Nath, and Hemam 2007). To better understand these kin effects, we have developed a simple hypothesized causal pathway to test the mechanisms by which parents and in-laws are likely to influence fertility outcomes.…”

The Place of Proximity

“…Sear and colleagues (2000) have shown that children in The Gambia who had reproductively active grandmothers were shorter than those whose grandmothers were postmenopausal. Another study looking at kin relationships in Malawi has shown a negative relationship between the presence of the maternal grandmother and infant mortality (Sear 2008). In this matrilineal society wealth is passed between female relatives, putting mothers and daughters in direct competition for resources.…”

A dynamic framework for the study of optimal birth intervals reveals the importance of sibling competition and mortality risks

“…This has been observed in some farming populations such as the Mandinka in Gambia, the Maya in Mexico and the Chewa in Malawi, as well as in a 17th Century Qu eb ecoise population (Sear et al, 2002;Beise, 2005;Sear, 2008;Kramer, 2010).…”