Fertility transitions and schooling: from micro- to macro-level associations.

Research on the schooling implications of fertility transitions often faces an aggregation problem: despite policy interest in macro-level outcomes, empirical studies usually focus on the micro-level effects of sibsize on schooling. This article proposes an aggregation framework for moving from micro- to macro-level associations between fertility and schooling. The proposed framework is an improvement over previous aggregation methods in that it considers concurrent changes in the effects of sibsize, socioeconomic context, and family structure.

Reproductive inequality in sub-Saharan Africa: differentials versus concentration.

Within developing countries, our understanding of reproductive inequality-how fertility is distributed within a population-has been shaped largely by studies of fertility differentials, a practical but partial-information measure. In this study, we examine whether exclusive reliance on differentials biases this understanding. Findings based on recent data from sub-Saharan Africa show bias.

Family size and schooling in sub-Saharan African settings: a reexamination.

Contrary to theory and evidence from many other regions, previous studies in sub-Saharan Africa have found surprisingly weak associations between family size and schooling. It is unclear; however, whether these weak results reflect (spurious) limitations in methodology or (real) differences in context. This study uses schooling histories from Cameroon to test four contending methodological and contextual explanations for these weak results: measurement bias, statistical estimation bias, family buffering, and socioeconomic context.

From awareness to adoption: the effect of AIDS education and condom social marketing on condom use in Tanzania (1993-1996).

This paper uses retrospective event-history data covering a four-year period to examine the timing of exposure to HIV/AIDS education and social marketing condom promotion campaigns, relative to the timing of changes in sexual risk behaviour in Tanzania. Analysis of the event-history data shows that the process of exposure to AIDS education messages and exposure to brand advertising for Salama brand condoms was very different. While exposure to AIDS education was early and gradual, exposure to Salama brand condoms started later, but was much more rapid.

Pregnancy-related dropouts and gender inequality in education: a life-table approach and application to Cameroon.

In this study, I used a life-table approach to estimate how much hypothetical reductions in pregnancy-related dropouts would help close the gender gap in educational attainment. Using the schooling histories of 6,686 pupils, I partitioned Cameroon's gender gap in education into "pregnancy-related" and "non-pregnancy-related" components and simulated the impact of reductions in pregnancy-related dropouts on this gap. The results suggest that such reductions would have substantial payoffs in this setting, but payoffs would be the greatest where societies also address gender inequities before puberty and outside the realm of pregnancy.