How soon do single mothers have another child? A competing risk analysis of second premarital childbearing in sub-Saharan African countries
Abstract
Background A considerable number of previous studies have examined the trends, correlates, and consequences of premarital childbearing among adolescents and young women in Africa. However, very little is known about whether and how soon single mothers have another premarital birth in sub-Saharan African countries. This study examines the timing of a second premarital birth among single mothers and assesses how it may differ across key socio-demographic variables. Methods We pooled recent Demographic and Health Surveys from 25 sub-Saharan African countries to create a database of 57, 219 single mothers aged 15–49 years. Cumulative incidence graphs and Fine and Gray’s competing risk models were used to delineate the timing of a second premarital birth and its socio-demographic correlates. Results More than one-third of single mothers in 16 countries have had a second premarital birth in their reproductive life. We also observed that more than 15% of the single mothers in Angola, Benin, the Republic of Chad, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, have had another premarital birth three years after the first. The incidence of a second premarital birth was significantly lower among women with secondary or higher education, compared to women with less than secondary education (p < 0.05) in most countries. Residence in an urban area compared to rural, was also significantly associated with a low incidence of second premarital birth in 10 countries (p < 0.05). Conclusions Findings indicate a rapid progression to having a second premarital birth in some sub-Sahara African countries, particularly among socio-economically disadvantaged women. The findings suggest the need for tailored interventions for improving the quality of life of single mothers, to reduce the associated burden and consequences of having a premarital birth.
Citation
Odimegwu , C O , Olamijuwon , E O , Chisumpa , V H , Akinyemi , J O , Singini , M G & Somefun , O D 2020 , ' How soon do single mothers have another child? A competing risk analysis of second premarital childbearing in sub-Saharan African countries ' , BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth , vol. 20 , 185 . https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-2850-1
Publication
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1471-2393Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Description
This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CRP015015), and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Numbers:105931).Collections
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