Demography
Volume 49, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 699-718

Child mobility, maternal status, and household composition in rural South Africa (Article) (Open Access)

Madhavan S.* , Schatz E. , Clark S. , Collinson M.
  • a Department of African-American Studies, University of Maryland, 2169 LeFrak Hall, College Park, MD 20742, United States, MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • b University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States, MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • c University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States, MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • d MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, INDEPTH Network, Centre for Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Abstract

This article examines the influence of maternal status, socioeconomic status of the household, and household composition on the mobility of children aged 0-14 in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, from 1999 to 2008. Using data from the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System, we found that children whose mothers were temporary migrants, living elsewhere, or dead had higher odds of moving than children whose mothers were coresident. Older children and children living in richer households faced lower odds of mobility. For children whose mothers were coresident, there was no effect of maternal substitutes on child mobility. However, among children whose mothers were temporary migrants or living elsewhere, the presence of prime-aged and elderly females lowered the odds of mobility. For maternal orphans, the presence of elderly women in the household lowered their odds of mobility. The results underscore the importance of examining the conditions under which children move in order to strengthen service delivery targeted at safeguarding children's well-being. © 2012 Population Association of America.

Author Keywords

South Africa Children mobility Mothers household

Index Keywords

residential mobility longitudinal study orphaned child Child, Orphaned human Longitudinal Studies statistics rural population family size Family Characteristics South Africa Humans Adolescent Infant, Newborn male preschool child female Infant Child, Preschool newborn Mothers Article mother migration maternal mortality social class Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84859478967&doi=10.1007%2fs13524-011-0087-3&partnerID=40&md5=d600e03fa73d757d95cf28754ace83e1
DOI: 10.1007/s13524-011-0087-3
ISSN: 00703370
Cited by: 24
Original Language: English