Living arrangements in sub-Saharan Africa between modernization and ethnicity
Population studies
32
Issue: 2
(10 - 2018)
Context/Background: Sub-Saharan Africa is characterized by an extraordinary diversification of living
arrangements. It is a debatable question whether these features are evolving alongside the deep
economic and social changes observed in the past few decades. Despite numerous studies on family
changes and their effects, very few analyses consider different ethnic and geographical contexts.
Data Source and Methods: The paper observe the interaction between modernization and cultural
heritage in shaping living arrangements in |0 sub-Saharan countries and in 38 ethnic groups. A temporal
perspective has been adopted, comparing two successive DHS carried out between 1990 and 2013.
Stratifying by ethnic groups and rural/urban contexts, factor analysis and hierarchical classification
analysis investigate how living arrangements combine with fertility levels and socio-economic
characteristics.
Findings: The results support the large heterogeneity of living arrangements and the increase of new
family forms, rather than the existence of a convergence process on a single nuclear family pattern.
Ethnic background is confirmed a valid interpretative key, necessary to understand the cultural
substrate in which the modernization factors brought by globalization act.
Conclusion: National governments should develop and implement family policies that can raise the
wellbeing of the emerging family models. In particular, family policies should support households in
providing care and economic, material, psychological and affective support for their members.
Keywords: Living arrangement, Household, Sub-Saharan Africa, Factor analysis, Cluster analysis.
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