Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:08:24.074Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Son preference and child replacement in Bangladesh: a new look at the child survival hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

A. J. M. Sufian  and
Nan E. Johnson
A. J. M. Sufian
Affiliation:
College of Architecture and Planning, King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Nan E. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Birth history data from women in the 1975–76 Bangladesh Fertility Survey were used to search for intentions to replace dead children. The median intervals between successive births of orders (i) and (i + 1) were not shorter when some siblings of orders below (i) had died. Nor was the median duration between the death of a child and the first posthumous birth shorter when the dead child was a boy or when it was survived by fewer than two brothers. The median intervals were generally shorter when the mother lived in an urban rather than a rural area but this difference was attributable only to the shorter duration of breast-feeding by urban women. These results disputed the notions that the timing of births was deliberately quicker to replace a dead child, that attempts at replacement were sex-selective, or that child replacement intentions were stronger in urban than in rural populations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 1989 , pp. 207 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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

Adlakha, A. L. (1973) Fertility and infant mortality-an analysis of Turkish data. Demography India, 11, 56.Google Scholar
Ahamed, M. M. (1986) Breast-feeding in Bangladesh. J. biosoc. Sci. 18, 425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, S. & Mahmud, S. (1981) Validation of mothers' reports of children's ages in pregnancy history interviews in Matlab, Bangladesh. In: Papers of the International Population Conference, Manila, 1981. International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, Liège.Google Scholar
Chowdhury, A. K. M., Khan, A. R. & Chen, L. C. (1976) The effect of child mortality experience on subsequent fertility in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Popul. Stud. 30, 249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coale, A. (1973) The demographic transition. In: Proceedings of the International Population Conference. International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, Liège.Google Scholar
Curtin, L. B. (1982) Status of Women: A Comparative Analysis of Twenty Developing Countries. Report No. 5 on the World Fertility Survey. Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Edmonston, B. (1983) Demographic and maternal correlates of infant and child mortality in Bangladesh. J. biosoc. Sci. 15, 183.Google Scholar
Freedman, R. (1968) Norms for family size in underdeveloped areas. In: Population and Society, pp. 215–230. Edited by Nam, C. B.. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.Google Scholar
Haub, C. (1982) 1982 World's Children Data Sheet. Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Kabir, M. (1982) Infant and child mortality in Bangladesh: estimates from the 1975 Bangladesh Fertility Survey. In: Infant and Child Mortality in Bangladesh, Chap. 3. Edited by Edmonston, B. & Bairagi, R.. University of Dhaka Institute of Statistical Research and Training, Bangladesh.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health and Population Control (1978) World Fertility Survey: Bangladesh Fertility Survey, 1975–1976. First Report. Dhaka, Bangladesh.Google Scholar
Pollard, A. H., Yusuf, F. & Pollard, G. N. (1974) Demographic Techniques. Pergamon Press, Sydney.Google Scholar
Rao, K. V. & Beaujot, R. (1986) Effect of infant mortality on subsequent fertility in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. J. biosoc. Sci. 18, 297.Google Scholar
Rizk, I. A., Stokes, C. S. & Nelson, M. R. (1982) The influence of individual and community-level child mortality on fertility in Egypt. Stud. comp. Int. Dev. 17, 74.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, G. & Hobcraft, J. (1980) Illustrative Analysis: Life Table Analysis of Birth Intervals in Colombia. World Fertility Survey Scientific Report No. 16. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg, Netherlands.Google Scholar
Smith, D. P. (1980) Life Table Analysis. World Fertility Survey Technical Bulletin No. 6. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg, Netherlands.Google Scholar
Suchindran, C. M. & Adlakha, A. L. (1984) Effect of infant mortality on subsequent fertility of women in Jordan: a life table analysis. J. biosoc. Sci. 16, 219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar