Single mothers often turn to their extended kin for financial assistance and to help with child care. Such support may be especially important in areas of high poverty and poor environmental conditions. Using novel kinship data, this paper assesses the extent of support given by over 3,000 relatives to 462 single mothers living in a slum area of Nairobi, Kenya. Contrary to stereotypes about families in sub-Saharan Africa, the active kin network of single mothers is relatively small and nearly a fifth of mothers do not receive any financial or child care assistance. Different types of kin offer different kinds of support according to culturally proscribed roles. However, support also depends heavily on kin’s employment status, geographic proximity, and age. These findings offer a nuanced picture of how single women living in slum areas draw upon their kin network to cope with their daily demands as mothers.

Young South African fathers are often engaged in their children’s lives even if they do not live together. Using longitudinal data on children (n = 1,209) from the Cape Town area, the authors show that although only 26% of young fathers live with their children, 66% of nonresidential fathers maintain regular contact, and 61% provide financial support. The father–child relationship, however, is embedded in broader family ties. The type of father–mother relationship is strongly associated with whether fathers coreside with their children, but not with fathers’ contact with nonresidential children. Close mother and maternal grandmother bonds reduce the likelihood that fathers live with their children, whereas close ties between fathers and paternal grandmothers increase the chance that fathers visit nonresidential children. Family ties do not affect fathers’ financial contributions, which are driven by men’s current economic situation. These findings illustrate that father–child relationships are best understood in the context of interacting family systems.

No abstract

Objective To explore the long‐distance mothering strategies of migrant women living in urban slums in Nairobi, Kenya. Background Throughout sub‐Saharan Africa, migration has had a profound influence on family life. As women's migration increases, particularly to urban slums, mothers may choose to live apart from children, fostering them to kin. Though fostering is common in many African countries, the unique characteristics of separation due to maternal migration may result in development of long‐distance mothering strategies to maintain mother–child relationships over time and space. Method Forty‐seven in‐depth interviews with mothers living in two Nairobi slums were analyzed to explore key strategies women use to maintain relationships with children who live elsewhere, examining the importance women place on sustaining relationships through financial and emotional support, and whether long‐distance mothering is sufficient. Results Efforts to maintain mother–child relationships over time and space are integral to many migrant women's understanding of themselves as mothers. Commitments to provide financially, as well as frequent communication and visits to ensure emotional well‐being of children, are described as key strategies to sustain relationships, whether separations are short term or permanent. For many mothers, however, these long‐distance efforts are viewed as insufficient forms of mothering, even in a context where child fostering is relatively normalized. Conclusion These long‐distance strategies may reflect a more nuanced approach to fostering or greater flexibility in fostering arrangements when mothers migrate, where frequent contact and financial support play an important role in maintaining mother–child relationships rather than shifting emotional and financial care to foster parents.

No abstract

Despite an extensive literature on the psychological rewards of marriage and children in high‐income countries, research on these relationships in low‐income countries remains limited. This paper draws on data from 4,133 adult women and men interviewed in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health to examine how marital status, categorized as never, formerly, monogamously, and polygynously married, and number of children are associated with psychological well‐being. With respect to marital status, we find that women in polygynous unions fare worse than monogamously married women and this detrimental effect is stronger for women than for men. Formerly married men and women of reproductive age experience the worst psychological outcomes, although this association wanes with age. In contrast, the benefits of having children is only evident among older Malawian women. These findings offer novel insights into the patterns of nearly universal marriage and high fertility that characterize Malawi and much of sub‐Saharan Africa.

Child fostering has been documented over time in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. We know little, however, about how the prevalence of fostering differs across countries and broad regions, nor about how fostering-and its predictors-has changed within countries over time. To explore prevalence, trends, and predictors of child fostering, I leverage Demographic and Health Survey data of mothers of children aged 0-15 from 139 surveys in 36 countries collected between 1986 and 2019, representing all regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Results suggest striking variation in the prevalence of contemporary fostering, ranging from 11.5 percent of mothers in Burundi to 45.7 percent in Namibia in the most recent survey. Fostering trends have fluctuated over time in the majority of countries, but have remained broadly stable, with random and fixed-effects models indicating that the key correlates across and within countries over time have remained stable, with the prevalence of never-married motherhood playing a key role in fostering. Together, results suggest child fostering remains an enduring institution in family life throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

No abstract