Smith-Greenaway Emily, Clark Shelley
University of Southern California, United States.
McGill University, Canada.
SSM Popul Health. 2017 Dec;3:473-486. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.04.004.
Like in other world regions, children with divorced parents in sub-Saharan Africa experience significant heath disadvantages relative to their peers with married parents. Preliminary evidence suggests this disadvantage may not be uniform across the subcontinent's diverse settings. Research from other world regions shows that the childhood health consequences of divorce vary across different contexts. Specifically, we hypothesize that the childhood disadvantages associated with divorce are more severe in regions of sub-Saharan Africa where divorce is rare, and less so where divorce is a more common family experience. Using Demographic and Health Survey data from 290 subnational regions within 31 sub-Saharan African countries, multilevel models document the previously shown link between having a divorced mother and child morbidity and mortality. The study results further demonstrate that the childhood health disadvantage is accentuated in subnational African regions where fewer women are divorced and muted in areas where more women are divorced. The findings demonstrate that the broader context can powerfully moderate childhood health inequalities traditionally thought of as operating at the family or individual level.
与世界其他地区一样，撒哈拉以南非洲地区父母离异的儿童相对于父母已婚的同龄人，在健康方面存在显著劣势。初步证据表明，这种劣势在该次大陆的不同环境中可能并不一致。世界其他地区的研究表明，离婚对儿童健康的影响在不同背景下有所不同。具体而言，我们假设，在撒哈拉以南非洲地区，离婚罕见的地方，与离婚相关的儿童劣势更为严重，而在离婚是较为常见的家庭经历的地方，这种劣势则较小。利用来自撒哈拉以南非洲31个国家内290个次国家级地区的人口与健康调查数据，多层次模型记录了此前所显示的母亲离异与儿童发病率和死亡率之间的联系。研究结果进一步表明，在非洲次国家级地区，离婚女性较少的地方，儿童健康劣势更为突出，而在离婚女性较多的地区，这种劣势则有所缓解。研究结果表明，更广泛的背景能够有力地调节传统上被认为在家庭或个人层面起作用的儿童健康不平等现象。
