Using data from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, this study examines couples' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics in the context of their attitudes towards family planning, and the impact of these factors on the use of contraceptives. The characteristics of the husbands and their influence on wives' behaviour illustrate the role of intra-household relations between men and women and their effect on fertility-related behaviour in patriarchal African societies.

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The effects of sociodemographic and political variables on causal attribution for poverty were measured among college students using the LOGIT form of the general logistic regression. Consistent with past research, our study indicated that students reporting higher parental social class, conservative political orientations, and opinions in favor of the death penalty were significantly more likely to agree with an individual causal attribution for poverty than other students when the effects of all other variables were held constant. It is suggested that such variables be examined as developmental factors in differences in attributional styles.

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This study uses data from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) of 1988 to examine factors determining the continued low levels of contraceptive use in Ghana. The women currently using efficient contraception are those who have sexual intercourse regularly, who discuss family planning with their partner, whose husbands approve of the use of family planning, and who live in the northern sector of the country. The finding that husband's approval is an important determinant of efficient contraceptive use has significant policy implications for Ghana and other African countries, to motivate both husbands and wives to share fertility control responsibilities.

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A transformation is underway in family and marital processes in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. With the exception of recent research with an emphasis on childbearing issues, few researchers have analyzed these on-going developments. Using Ghana as a case study, this article examines the context of mate selection among men and women. We also compare the effect of structural as opposed to cultural factors on contemporary mate selection patterns. Findings from our analysis indicate an increasing propensity for Africans to self-select their partners. At the same time, women are more likely than men to consider the family’s input in selecting their partners. Individual reports and concordance in couples’ replies reflect this observation. Our overall results support the thesis that worldwide family processes in Africa may be converging to patterns in other parts of the world.