The Determinants of Ghanaian Couples’ Family Size Ideals

• In Event: Open Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 14: Family, Relationships, and the Life Course

Abstract

This study examined the effects of women’s community empowerment and community modernization on Ghanaian couples’ small-family ideals. The study used data from the 2021 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys to operationalize couples’ small-family-size ideals and their personal and domestic characteristics. Data from the 2021 Ghana Population and Housing Census were used to measure women’s community empowerment and community modernization. Multilevel multinomial logit regressions revealed that the community characteristics influence couples' family-size ideals. The results of the study demonstrate the usefulness of considering community-level social changes when examining how couples’ attitudes toward reproduction change in the African region.

Author

• Kofi D. Benefo, CUNY-Lehman College