Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:24:26.612Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

FACTORS INFLUENCING UNION FORMATION IN NAIROBI, KENYA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2009

PHILIPPE BOCQUIER  and
ANNE KHASAKHALA
PHILIPPE BOCQUIER
Affiliation:
Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), Paris, France
ANNE KHASAKHALA
Affiliation:
Population Studies Research Institute (PSRI), University of Nairobi, Kenya
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Using retrospective data from the Urban Integration Survey conducted in 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya, on a sample of 955 women and men aged 25–54, this paper compares factors influencing entry into union formation for men and women. The analysis uses event history methods, specifically Cox Proportional Hazards regression, stratified by age cohort and run separately by sex. The results indicate that delay in union formation is more pronounced for women than for men. Cohabitation without formal marriage is the prominent form of union, especially among the younger generation, and appears to have increased. For men, the timing of union is more dependent upon human capital acquisition than on cultural factors. These findings show that the marriage search model, which was first applied in Western countries, can also hold in cities of developing countries. Nonetheless, neither the search model nor the integration or the independence models apply to women's union formation, which very few exogenous factors can explain.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , July 2009 , pp. 433 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, P. K., Borgan, O., Gill, R. D. & Keiding, N. (1993) Statistical Models Based on Counting Processes. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antoine, P. (2000) Les complexités de la nuptialité: de la précocité des unions féminines à la polygamie masculine en Afrique. Démographie: analyse et synthèse – Causes et conséquences des évolutions démographiques, Vol. 3. Dipartimento di Scienze Demographiche, Universita degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Institut national d'études démographiques, Paris, Rome, Naples, Pozzuoli, pp. 1–25.Google Scholar
Becker, G. S. (1974) A theory of marriage. Part II. Journal of Political Economy 82(2), S11–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, G. S. (1981, 1991, Enlarged edn) A Treatise on the Family. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Berstrom, T. & Bagnoli, M. (1993) Courtship as a waiting game. Journal of Political Economy 101, 185–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bocquier, P. (2005) Informal Sector versus Informal Contracts in Nairobi, Kenya. DIAL, Paris, p. 25.Google Scholar
England, P. & Farkas, G. (1986) Households, Employment, and Gender: A Social, Economic, and Demographic View. Aldine de Gruyter, New York.Google Scholar
Ezeh, A. C. (1997) Polygyny and reproductive behaviour in sub-Saharan Africa. Demography 30(3), 355–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gage, A. (1998) Premarital childbearing, unwanted fertility and maternity care in Kenya and Namibia. Population Studies 52, 21–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaisie, S. K. (1996) Demographic transition: predicament of sub-Saharan Africa. Health Transition Review 6 (Supplement), 345–369.Google Scholar
Hattori, M. K. & F. Dodoo, N-A. (2007) Cohabitation, marriage, and ‘sexual monogamy’ in Nairobi's slums. Social Sciences and Medicine 64(5), 1067–1078.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalbfleisch, J. D. & Prentice, R. L. (1980) The Statistical Analysis of Failure Data. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Lam, D. (1988) Marriage markets and assortative mating with household public goods: theoretical results and empirical implications. Journal of Human Resources 23(4), 462–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindberg, L. D., Nathanson, C., Pleck, J. & Wolpin, K. (1997) Integrating theoretical perspectives on gender, union formation and fertility. NICHD Workshop: Improving Data on Male Fertility and Family Formation.Urban Institute, Washington DC,January 16–17th 2007, p. 14.Google Scholar
Macfarlane, A. (1981) Thomas Malthus and the Making of Modern World. http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/TEXTS/Malthus_final.pdf.Google Scholar
McLaughlin, D. K. & Lichter, D. T. (1997) Poverty and the marital behavior of young women. Journal of Marriage and the Family 59(3), 582–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meekers, D. (1992) The process of marriage in African Societies. Population and Development Review 18(1), 61–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Research Council (1993) Demographic Effects of Economic Reversals in Sub-Saharan Africa. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Newell, C. (1988) Methods and Models in Demography. Guildford Press.Google Scholar
Oppenheimer, V. K. (1988) A theory of marriage timing. American Journal of Sociology 93(3), 563–591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppenheimer, V. K. (1994) Women's rising employment and the future of the family in industrial societies. Population and Development Review 20, 293–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppenheimer, V. K. (1997) Women's employment and gains to marriage. The specialization and the trading model. Annual Review of Sociology 23, 431–453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palloni, A., Hill, K. & Aguirre, G. P. (1996) Economic swings and demographic change in the history of Latin America. Population Studies 50(1), 105–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parrado, E. A. & Zenteno, R. M. (2002) Gender differences in union formation in Mexico: Evidence from marital search models. Journal of Marriage and the Family 64, 756–773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations (1990) Patterns of First Marriage: Timing and Prevalence. Department of Social and Economic Affairs, United Nations, New York, p. 328.Google Scholar
van de Walle, E. (1993) Recent trends in marriage ages. In Foote, K. A., Hill, K. H. & Martin, L. G. (eds) Demographic Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, pp. 199–258.Google Scholar
van de Walle, E. & Foster, A. D. (1990) Fertility Decline in Africa: Assessment and Prospects. World Bank, Washington, DC, p. 63.Google Scholar
Wilson, W. J. (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago University Press, Chicago.Google Scholar