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HOUSEHOLD NUCLEATION, DEPENDENCY AND CHILD HEALTH OUTCOMES IN GHANA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2014

SAMUEL KOBINA ANNIM ,
KOFI AWUSABO-ASARE  and
JOSHUA AMO-ADJEI
SAMUEL KOBINA ANNIM
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
KOFI AWUSABO-ASARE
Affiliation:
Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
JOSHUA AMO-ADJEI*
Affiliation:
Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
*
1Corresponding author. Email: joshua.amo-adjei@ucc.edu.gh
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Summary

This study uses three key anthropometric measures of nutritional status among children (stunting, wasting and underweight) to explore the dual effects of household composition and dependency on nutritional outcomes of under-five children in Ghana. The objective is to examine changes in household living arrangements of under-five children to explore the interaction of dependency and nucleation on child health outcomes. The concept of nucleation refers to the changing structure and composition of household living arrangements, from highly extended with its associated socioeconomic system of production and reproduction, social behaviour and values, towards single-family households – especially the nuclear family, containing a husband and wife and their children alone. A negative relationship between levels of dependency, as measured by the number of children in the household, and child health outcomes is premised on the grounds that high dependency depletes resources, both tangible and intangible, to the disadvantage of young children. Data were drawn from the last four rounds of the Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys (GDHSs), from 1993 to 2008, for the first objective – to explore changes in household composition. For the second objective, the study used data from the 2008 GDHS. The results show that, over time, households in Ghana have been changing towards nucleation. The main finding is that in households with the same number of dependent children, in nucleated households children under age 5 have better health outcomes compared with children under age 5 in non-nucleated households. The results also indicate that the effect of dependency on child health outcomes is mediated by household nucleation and wealth status and that, as such, high levels of dependency do not necessarily translate into negative health outcomes for children under age 5, based on anthropometric measures.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 47 , Issue 5 , September 2015 , pp. 565 - 592
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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