Parcours d'entrée en vie féconde des femmes au Burkina Faso : une analyse séquentielle
In West African societies, marriage has traditionally represented the first step of the sequence of demographic events regarding the formation of the family. Currently, this sequence has become more complex. Following the erosion of traditional patterns of entrance into adulthood, urban youth tend to delay marriage, to increasingly engage in premarital sex while premarital births among youth seem to rise. Our study considers demographic life courses of entry into reproductive life as individual sequences of states. The main purpose of this study is to explore, describe and explain changes in young women’s sequences of entry in reproductive life using individual sequences as the unit of analysis. Using data from the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey of Burkina Faso, we synthesize the timing of first sexual intercourse, first union and first birth into sequences. Using Sequence Analysis methods, we identify four main categories of entrance in reproductive life: marital, premarital sex, premarital childbearing and singles. These methods allow a finer classification and a visualization of complete sequences and their transition patterns. We then analyze the association between individual characteristics and the sequence that women follow. Our results confirm that non-traditional sequences rise among younger generations. We also show that while women’s years of instruction increase, the probability of starting a sequence by premarital sex rises and the probability of starting a sequence by a marriage falls dramatically. Finally the childhood place of residence seems to moderate these effects by increasing the probability to follow a non-traditional sequence for urban women.
Entrance into reproductive life Sequence analysis Burkina Faso Burkina Faso First sexual intercourse First birth First union West Africa Episode Classification Classification Sequence Transition patterns