Polygamy-fertility inter-relationship: the case of Ghana.

A review of previous research on the effect of polygamy on fertility highlights the complexity of the relationship between both variables and the need for multivariate statistical analyses to sort out the net effect of polygamy on the reproductive behavior of women. The present paper examines this net effect among a sample of rural Ghanaian women. The analysis is based on interviews with 857 married women between the ages of 14-44 of whom approximately 1/3 were polygamous. The survey was carried out by the DANFA Comprehensive Rural Health and Family Planning Project of Ghana. Stepwise multiple regression is used. The dependent variable is fertility measured by the number of children ever born alive and the independent variables are number of current wives of the husband age of wife age at 1st marriage number of previous marriages number of fetal deaths ever use of family planning methods and type of conjugal relationship (mutual consent or friendship). Results indicate that all the independent variables included in the regression analysis explain 53.8% of the total variance in the dependent variable. Though the contribution of polygamy to the total explained variation in fertility is marginal the effect of this variable on the fertility performance of the women is nevertheless significant. The analysis shows that the larger the number of co-wives the lower their fertility. The fertility of polygamous wives is significantly lower than that of monogamous wives. Further the birth intervals of polygamous wives are found to be significantly longer as compared to those married monogamously.