Spousal agreement on waiting time to next birth in sub-Saharan Africa

This study investigates how various social, demographic, and economic factors influence spousal agreement on waiting time to next birth. We also explore how the practice of polygyny in the society affects spousal agreement on waiting time to next birth. We find that in sub-Saharan Africa spousal agreement on waiting time to next birth is associated with wanting the next child sooner. When the spouses disagree on waiting time to next birth, the wives want to wait longer than their husbands in most cases. Additionally, we find that the demographic factors are the primary determinants of spousal agreement on waiting time to next birth, not the socioeconomic factors. The strongest predictor of waiting time to next birth is infecundability. In most countries, cohabiting couples with fewer children and couples with infecund wives are more likely to agree on waiting time to next birth. Wife"s age is also positively associated with spousal agreement. Effects of socioeconomic factors, such as education, employment, and wealth status are generally weak and inconsistent. The separate analysis of pooled data for the low and high polygyny countries also shows strong effects of demographic factors, not socioeconomic. The findings highlight some of the challenges in developing programs to promote spousal communication and birth spacing and underscore the need for the programs to be gender-sensitive. (Author abstract)