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Investigating the Relationship between Food Insecurity and Fertility Preferences in Tanzania

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Abstract

Objective

We analyze fertility preferences among women at risk of pregnancy with children ages five or younger as a function of two food security metrics: perceptions of household hunger and child stunting (height for age z scores ≤ −2.0) in order to convey a robust picture of food insecurity.

Methods

We use data from the 2016 Tanzania Demographic and Health Surveys to analyze this research question. Multinomial generalized logit models with cluster-adjusted standard errors are used to determine the association between different dimensions of food insecurity and individual-level fertility preferences.

Results

On average, women who experience household hunger are 19% less likely to want more children compared to women who do not experience household hunger (AOR: 0.81, p = 0.02) when controlling for education, residence, maternal age, number of living children, and survey month. Adjusting for the same covariates, having at least one child ≤ 5 years old who is stunted is associated with 13% reduced odds of wanting more children compared to having no children stunted (AOR: 0.87, p = 0.06).

Conclusions for Practice

In the context of a divided literature base, this research aligns with the previous work identifying a preference among women to delay or avoid pregnancy during times of food insecurity. The similarity in magnitude and direction of the association between food insecurity and fertility preferences across the two measures of food insecurity suggest a potential association between lived or perceived resource insecurity and fertility aspirations. Further research is needed in order to establish a mechanism through which food insecurity affects fertility preferences.

Significance Statement

Individual fertility preferences are sensitive to dynamic multi-level factors in a woman’s life. While qualitative research has explored the effect that food insecurity and associated resource constraints have on fertility preferences, results are conflicting. Here, we quantitatively examine how individual woman’s fertility preferences associate with two measures of food insecurity and qualitatively compare the associations across food insecurity measures. We establish that two food insecurity measures- household hunger and child stunting- capture similar populations and have similar associations with fertility preferences. This is a critical step forward in understanding the dynamic relationship between resource availability, child well-being, and fertility preferences.

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Notes

  1. Child wasting, or low weight-for-height, may also be used here as a measure of acute rather than chronic food deprivation. Given the often significantly lower prevalence of wasting compared to stunting, this requires a substantial sample size and likely an oversampling of children who are wasted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brown University School of Public Health, 121 South Main St., Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Kira DiClemente & Elliott Bosco

  2. University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Department of Geography, Environment and Society, 558 Social Sciences Building, 267 19th Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Kathryn Grace

  3. Yale School of Public Health, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA

    Trace Kershaw & Debbie Humphries

Authors
  1. Kira DiClemente
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  2. Kathryn Grace
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  3. Trace Kershaw
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  4. Elliott Bosco
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  5. Debbie Humphries
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Correspondence to Kira DiClemente.

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DiClemente, K., Grace, K., Kershaw, T. et al. Investigating the Relationship between Food Insecurity and Fertility Preferences in Tanzania. Matern Child Health J 25, 302–310 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-020-03022-1

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