Child-Sex Preference and Factors That Influenced Such Choices among Women in an Obstetric Population in Nigeria - Open Access Library Journal

OALibJ > Vol.3 No.10, October 2016

Child-Sex Preference and Factors That Influenced Such Choices among Women in an Obstetric Population in Nigeria ()

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DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1103005 4,446 Downloads 9,203 Views Citations

Author(s)

Emmanuel C. Inyang-Etoh¹, Anyiekere M. Ekanem²

Affiliation(s)

¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria.
²Department of Community Health, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

Son preference is a global phenomenon that is influenced by personal, conjugal, socioeconomic and cultural factors. Objectives: This study was designed to determine child-sex preference of women among an obstetric population in Nigeria, and to obtain the reasons for such choices. Materials and Methods: A 15-item questionnaire was used to obtain information from the respondents on their child-sex preference and factors that influenced such preferences. Results: Four hundred and fifty-three women with a mean age of 29.07 4.70 were surveyed. Most (428, 94.5%) were married, 448 (98.9%) were Christians, 404 (89.2%) were booked attending antenatal care in the centre, and 289 (63.8%) had attained post-secondary level of education. The vast majority 294 (64.9%) of the mothers preferred to have male children in the index pregnancy. About half 223 (49.2%) of the mothers would stop trying to have their preferred child-sex after 4 attempts. The majority (171, 37.7%) of the mothers made their child-sex preference in order to attain gender balance in the family, while 129 (28.5%) of them made their preference to ensure inheritance. Mothers whose reasons for child-sex preferred were “for inheritance”, “to satisfy husband”, and “to consolidate marriage” significantly preferred sons, p = 0.000. Conclusion: This study has confirmed Nigeria as a patriarchal society, where women prefer to have male children as against daughters, although, the trend was towards the attainment of child-sex balance in the composition of offspring in the family. Mothers’ preferences for sons in this study were significantly influenced by patriarchal considerations.

KEYWORDS

Mothers, Child-Sex, Preference, Reasons, Nigeria

Share and Cite:

Inyang-Etoh, E. and Ekanem, A. (2016) Child-Sex Preference and Factors That Influenced Such Choices among Women in an Obstetric Population in Nigeria. Open Access Library Journal, 3, 1-10. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1103005.

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