Polygyny as a Predictor of Child Mortality

在西非马里的多贡人中，20%的儿童在出生后一年内死亡，近50%的儿童活不到5岁。 对造成这一死亡人数的原因进行的初步研究表明，如果父母和近亲是一夫一妻制而不是一夫多妻制，儿童（N = 176）存活的可能性要大得多。 该项目有两个目标：（1）在1 000多名0至5岁儿童的更大样本中验证婚姻状况仍然是儿童存活率的预测因素，每个儿童都将被前瞻性地监测至少两年;（2）测试家庭结构与儿童死亡率之间关系的其他原因。 这些解释集中在父亲对孩子的投资，共同妻子之间的竞争，一夫多妻制家庭的资源稀释和妇女地位的差异。 本研究的结果对撒哈拉以南非洲地区的儿童死亡率问题具有现实意义。 它们也可能有助于为其他关于贫困儿童的研究提供信息。

Among the Dogon of Mali, West Africa, 20% of children die in their first year of life and nearly 50% do not survive to age five years. A preliminary study of the causes of this mortality toll has shown that children (N = 176) are significantly more likely to survive if their parents and close paternal relatives are monogamously rather than polygamously married. The goals of this project are twofold: (1) to verify that marital status remains a predictor of child survivorship in a larger sample of over 1000 children, age 0 to 5 years, each of whom will be prospectively monitored for at least two years, and (2) to test alternative explanations for the causes of the relationship between family structure and child mortality. These explanations focus on differences in paternal investment in children, competition among co-wives, the dilution of resources in polygamous families, and the status of women. The results of this study will have practical significance for the problem of child mortality in SubSaharan Africa. They may also help inform other studies of children in poverty.