TITLE:
Child-Sex Preference and Factors That Influenced Such Choices among Women in an Obstetric Population in Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Emmanuel C. Inyang-Etoh, Anyiekere M. Ekanem
KEYWORDS:
Mothers, Child-Sex, Preference, Reasons, Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.3 No.10,
October
25,
2016
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.