Premarital Fertility and Marital Timing in Malawi

Abstract

In Malawi, Africa, the median age at first marriage is among the lowest on the continent and adolescent fertility rates are among the highest. Using highfrequency panel data from the country designed to follow single women and men into marriage, we examine the extent to which premarital fertility is associated with the timing of marriage. Two notable findings emerge. First, premarital fertility typically leads to a more rapid transition into marriage, compared to not having had a premarital conception or birth, and this effect is as strong for men as it is for women. Second, among women with premarital fertility, those who are wealthier, and those who have two parents alive, have lower odds of not marrying. Among men with premarital fertility, however, no patterns predict their subsequent marital outcomes. This study contributes to the literature on fertility and marriage in sub-Saharan Africa by including men in the analysis. BACKGROUNDAn impressive body of research across a range of disciplines has investigated the process and timing of marriage in sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Hunter 2016a; Johnson-Hanks 2005; Meekers 1992; Shapiro and Gebreselassie 2014). Marriage may encompass a range of union formation types, such as traditional, civil, religious, and those that occur without ceremony, and how people come to define marriage often differs by country context (Ansell et al. 2018;Arnaldo 2004). In Malawi, for instance, people generally consider themselves married upon cohabitation, defining the move-in and establishment of a household as the substantive transition, even if a formal ceremony has yet to occur (Clark, Poulin, and Kohler 2009). By comparison, in South Africa, where "formal" marriage is delayed until later in life for several reasons (including that bridewealth is an elongated process), typically cohabitation is not construed as marriage per se, and many couples cohabit indefinitely, forgoing matrimony altogether (Hunter 2016b). The process and timing of marriage may also differ by economic and social demographics. Bledsoe (1990) discovered that in Sierra Leone, for example, educated women progressed more quickly through the conjugal process, having their marriages recognized by family, religious organizations, and the state, compared to their less educated

Measuring Union Formalization for a New Generation of Family Demography: A Case Study from Urban Kenya

“…UF at the time of childbearing may explain variation in health outcomes through differential investments in children. Evidence suggests that women who have children prior to more formal marriage remain single longer than young nulliparous, never-married women (Calvès 1999;Hattori and Dodoo 2007;Sennott et al 2016;Smith-Greenaway and Clark 2018) and may go on to have less formal unions (Sennott et al 2016) that appear less stable (Poulin, Beegle, and Xu 2021). We also know that these mothers draw less support from the father of the child (Madhavan, Harrison, and Sennott 2013) and/or his kin Madhavan, Clark, and Hara 2018;Houle et al 2013;Madhavan, Richter, and Norris 2016;Madhavan et al 2014).…”

“…2016; Smith‐Greenaway and Clark 2018) and may go on to have less formal unions (Sennott et al. 2016) that appear less stable (Poulin, Beegle, and Xu 2021). We also know that these mothers draw less support from the father of the child (Madhavan, Harrison, and Sennott 2013) and/or his kin (Clark et al.…”

Extramarital fertility in low- and middle-income countries

“…The demographic and nondemographic consequences of extramarital fertility in LMICs have been investigated in a large body of research. Premarital fertility is known to affect the timing of entrance into formal marriage, typically accelerating the timing (Hattori and Larsen 2007;Poulin, Beegle, and Xu 2021), although in some settings the dynamics are more complicated (for example, South Africa; Sennott et al 2016). Premarital births may also affect the stability of subsequent marriages (Odimegwu, Akinyemi, and De Wet 2017).…”