Predictors of underachieved and overachieved fertility among women with completed fertility in Ghana

Abstract

Background A woman’s ability to achieve her preferred family size is critical in addressing issues of high fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. The socio-cultural context in sub-Saharan Africa presents some difficulty for the attainment of preferred fertility for many women. Few studies in sub-Saharan Africa have examined the extent to which women are unable to achieve their preferred family sizes. This study, therefore, examines the factors that are associated with the non-attainment of women’s preferred fertility by the end of their reproductive years. Data and methods The study analyzed pooled cross-sectional data with a sub-sample of 1,888 currently married women aged 45–49 years from five rounds of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, 1993 to 2014. Test of associations and multinomial logistic regression analysis were used to examine the predictors of underachieved and overachieved fertility relative to achieved fertility. Results The results indicate that 44 per cent of the women recorded overachieved fertility while about 36 per cent underachieved their fertility. Partner wants more, experiencing child loss and married more than once were significantly associated with overachieved fertility. Nonetheless, increased years of a woman’s education and delaying her at first birth were negatively associated with overachieved fertility. On the other hand, underachieved fertility was significantly associated with having a partner with fewer fertility preference, being of the Islamic faith and ever use of modern contraception. Conclusion Partner’s fertility preference, child loss experience, marrying more than once and ever use of modern contraception were important predictors of a woman’s inability to achieve her fertility preference. Policies to regulate men’s fertility behaviour, delaying age at first birth, use of modern contraception, encouraging longer years of education, and reducing infant and child mortality are important strategies to achieve fertility preference in Ghana.

Analysis of Couples’ Discordance on Fertility Desire in Ghana

“…At a younger age, men may be using contraceptives with the intention of spacing out childbirth and not necessarily for limiting childbirth. This finding is similar to those of the study carried out by Yeboah et al (2021b) who explained that modern contraceptives used by women were used to space out high parity rather than with the intention of limiting child births. However, at older ages, men might use contraceptive methods to prevent having additional children.…”

“…Extant studies on fertility desires have focused mainly on women (Ahinkorah et al 2021b;Kebede et al 2021;Keesara et al 2018;Yeboah et al 2021b) and persons living with HIV (Kimani et al 2015), with few studies having been conducted on men (Akinyemi and Odimegwu 2021;Wawire et al 2013). Sarnak and Becker (2022) examined the accuracy of wives' proxy reports of husbands' fertility preferences in SSA and found that wives across a number of countries either inaccurately perceive or are uncertain of their husband's fertility preferences.…”

“…Sarnak and Becker (2022) examined the accuracy of wives' proxy reports of husbands' fertility preferences in SSA and found that wives across a number of countries either inaccurately perceive or are uncertain of their husband's fertility preferences. Nevertheless, most studies measuring the concordance of couple's fertility preferences rely on the report of women as proxies regarding the fertility desire of their partners (Diro and Afework 2013;Gebreselassie and Mishra 2011;Uddin et al 2017;Yeboah et al 2021b;Matovu et al 2017). As such, little is known about the factors associated with fertility desires' discordance between husband and wife from men's perspective.…”

Socioeconomic factors associated with the number of children ever born by married Ghanaian females: a cross-sectional analysis

“…The level of education was also significantly associated with CEB, and those who had obtained higher education had lower CEB, lower odds of one or more births and lower odds of high births. This could be attributed to the fact that those with higher education spend more time in training or knowledge acquisition 44 47. Their investment in education indirectly allocates the early years of their life development to set other priorities and postpone childbearing after securing an established profession.…”

The determinants of household fertility decisions in Burkina Faso

“…Nibaruta et al (2021) provided evidence from Burundi that the absence of infant mortality risk in the household is associated with a low fertility rate. In Ghana, some authors have demonstrated that women who have experienced the death of a child have greater fertility (Yeboah et al, 2021;Angko et al, 2022). In contrast to these authors, Mohamud (2023) found that the infant mortality rate in Somalia has a positive effect on the fertility of women in the long run.…”