Abstract
A considerable number of married women in sub-Saharan African countries are childless and may be likely to engage in marital infidelity to avoid social stigma, economic insecurities, and other debilitating experience associated with being involuntarily childless. This study sought to investigate the relationship between involuntary childlessness and marital infidelity and how it may be moderated by women’s educational attainment. Data were obtained from 23,847 women in their first union for at least 2 years and participated in the demographic and health surveys of five sub-Saharan African countries comprising Cameroon, Gabon, Lesotho, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Data were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression, adjusted for socioeconomic, union, and partner characteristics. Involuntarily childless women in Cameroon (AOR: 2.34, 95% CI 1.62–3.39) and Sierra Leone (AOR: 2.22, 95% CI 1.42–3.49) were about two times more likely to engage in marital infidelity compared to non-childless married women. In Gabon, Lesotho, and Liberia, the odds of marital infidelity did not significantly differ between involuntarily childless and non-childless married women. Although involuntarily childless women with secondary or higher education reported higher levels of marital infidelity than non-childless women with a similar level of education, we found no statistical evidence in all the countries that the relationship between involuntary childlessness and marital infidelity was moderated by women’s educational attainment. These findings suggest that involuntary childlessness is a critical factor potentially related to marital infidelity and may be an important target for intervention and prevention, particularly in settings with high levels of sexually transmitted infections.
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The data underlying the results presented in the study are available on the demographic and health survey website (https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm).
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We are grateful to acknowledge “Measure DHS” and the authorities of countries where the demographic and health surveys used in this study were conducted for granting us permission to use the datasets.
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This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CRP015015), and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Numbers: 105931).
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COO conceived and designed the study. EOO downloaded, analyzed the data, and interpreted the results. GC and COO validated the results. GC and EOO drafted sections of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Olamijuwon, E., Odimegwu, C. & Chemhaka, G. Involuntary Childlessness and Marital Infidelity Among Women in Sub-Saharan African Countries: An Assessment of the Moderating Role of Women’s Education. Arch Sex Behav 50, 601–614 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01770-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01770-3