Polygyny and HIV in Malawi

Georges Reniers and Rania Tfaily
Additional contact information
Georges Reniers: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Rania Tfaily: Carleton University

Demographic Research, 2008, vol. 19, issue 53, 1811-1830

Abstract: We review the relationship between polygyny and HIV and identify a positive individual-level correlation, and a negative ecological correlation. We subsequently examine two mechanisms that contribute to the individual-level correlation. First, we find that men in polygynous marriages have more extramarital sex than men in monogamous unions (both in terms of self reports and in terms of spousal reports of the suspicion of adultery). Second, we find evidence of adverse selection of HIV positive women into polygynous unions via an investigation of the relationship between marriage order and polygyny status. We conclude with reflections about possible explanations for the distinct individual and ecological correlations.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS; marriage; polygyny; sub-Saharan Africa; Malawi; sexual behavior; widowhood (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol19/53/19-53.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:demres:v:19:y:2008:i:53

DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2008.19.53

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Demographic Research from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Editorial Office ().