Benefo K D, Tsui A O, Johnson J D
Population and Studies Training Center, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
J Biosoc Sci. 1994 Jul;26(3):311-26. doi: 10.1017/s0021932000021404.
Postpartum sexual abstinence may be a major determinant of fertility and of maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines the relationship between ethnicity and abstinence using data from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. There is considerable diversity in the length of abstinence although only for one ethnic group, the Mole-Dagbani and other Ghanaians, is abstinence, both actual and ideal, very long. Respondents in most ethnic groups believe their abstinence to be adequate. A key motivation for abstinence is the unwillingness to have sexual intercourse with nursing mothers. Education, urbanisation, changes in marriage patterns and religious traditions are major factors shaping the ethnic differentials in abstinence. In comparison to breast-feeding, abstinence appears to have relatively little impact on the length of the birth interval and for Ghana, has relatively few implications for fertility and child health.
产后性禁欲可能是撒哈拉以南非洲地区生育能力以及母婴健康的一个主要决定因素。本研究利用1988年加纳人口与健康调查的数据，考察了种族与禁欲之间的关系。禁欲时长存在相当大的差异，不过只有一个族群，即莫莱-达戈巴尼族和其他加纳人，实际和理想的禁欲时间都很长。大多数族群的受访者认为他们的禁欲时间足够。禁欲的一个关键动机是不愿意与哺乳期母亲发生性行为。教育、城市化、婚姻模式的变化和宗教传统是造成禁欲方面种族差异的主要因素。与母乳喂养相比，禁欲似乎对生育间隔的时长影响相对较小，而且对加纳而言，对生育能力和儿童健康的影响也相对较小。
