Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:11:42.731Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determinants of breast-feeding and post-partum sexual abstinence: analysis of a Sample of Yoruba women, western Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Osei-mensah Aborampah
Osei-mensah Aborampah
Affiliation:
Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This study employs multiple classification and regression techniques to determine the influence of marital, sociodemographic and selected intermediate variables on duration of breast-feeding and post-partum sexual abstinence among a sample of 300 Yoruba women of western Nigeria. Only education and place of residence appeared to be significantly related to the post-partum variables. Breast-feeding was shown to exert a significant positive effect on abstinence. The effect of contraception on the post-partum variables appeared to be a function of socioeconomic status.

Reductions in the duration of the post-partum variables due to relative affluence can result in increases in fertility. Planners may do well to encourage women to go back to the use of these traditional child spacing practices in the absence of large scale and effective use of contraceptives.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , October 1985 , pp. 461 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © 1985, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bongaarts, J. (1981) The impact on fertility of traditional and changing child-spacing practices. In: Child-Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change. Edited by H.J., Page and R., Lesthaege. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Caldwell, J.C. & Caldwell, P. (1977) The role of marital sexual abstinence in determining fertility: a study of the Yoruba in Nigeria. Popul. Stud. 31, 199.Google Scholar
Caldwell, J.C. & Caldwell, P. (1981) Cause and sequence in the reduction of post-natal abstinence in Ibadan City, Nigeria. In: Child-Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change. Edited by H.J., Page and R., Lesthaege. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Carr-Saunders, A.M. (1964) World Population: Past Growth and Present Trends. Cass, London.Google Scholar
Ford, C.S. (1954) Fertility controls in underdeveloped areas. In: Proceedings of the World Population Conference, Rome, pp. 841–849. United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
Hirschman, C. & Butler, M. (1981) Trends and differences in breast-feeding: an update. Demography, 18, 48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huffman, S.L. (1984) Determinants of breast-feeding in developing countries: overview and policy implications. Stud. Fam. Plann. 15, 170.Google Scholar
Lesthaege, R. (1982) Lactation and Lactation-Related Variables, Contraception and Fertility: an Overview of Data Problems and World Trends. WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar
Mosley, W.H., Osteria, T. & Huffman, S.L. (1977) Interactions of contraception and breast-feeding in developing countries. J. biosoc. Sci. Suppl. 4, 93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okediji, F.O., Caldwell, J., Caldwell, P. & Ware, H. (1976) The changing African family project: a report with special reference to the Nigerian segment. Stud. Fam. Plann. 7, 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popkin, B.M. & DeJesus, S. (1976) Determinants of breast-feeding behavior in rural Filipino households. In: Recent Empirical Findings on Fertility, p. 47. Edited by L., Hyo-Chaiet al. Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Rolland, R., Lequin, R.M., Schellekens, L.A. & De Jong, F.H. (1975) The role of prolactin in the restoration of ovarian function during the early post-partum period in the human female. I. A study during physiological lactation. Clin. Endocr. 4, 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santow, G. & Bracher, M. (1981) Patterns of post-partum sexual abstinence and their implications for fertility in Ibadan, Nigeria. In: Child-Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change, pp. 201–224. Edited by H.J., Page and R., Lesthaege. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Saucier, J.-F. (1972) Correlates of the long post-partum taboo: a cross-cultural study. Curr. Anthrop. 13, 238.Google Scholar
Simpson-Hebert, M. & Huffman, S.L. (1981) The contraceptive effect of breast-feeding. Stud. Fam. Plann. 12, 125.Google Scholar