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Mothers' reading skills and child survival in Nigeria: Examining the relevance of mothers' decision-making power

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  • Smith-Greenaway, Emily

Abstract

Mothers' literacy skills are emerging as a key determinant of children's health and survival in low-income contexts, with emphasis on the cognitive and psychological agency that literacy skills provide. This work has clearly established a strong association between mothers' reading skills—a key subcomponent of broader literacy and language skills—and child mortality. However, this relatively nascent literature has not yet considered how broader social structures condition the process. In Nigeria and in sub-Saharan Africa more broadly, gender-based social inequality constrains many mothers' decision-making power over children's health matters; this structural feature may condition the association between mothers' reading skills and child mortality. This paper uses data from the 2003 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (N = 12,076) to test the conditionality of the relationship between mothers' reading skills and child survival on mothers' decision-making power, highlighting how structural realities should factor more heavily into this individual-action-oriented literature. Among Nigerian children whose mothers have decision-making power, mothers' reading skills convey a 27 percent lower risk of child mortality; however, for children whose mothers lack decision-making power, mothers' reading skills do not yield a significant survival advantage. Overall, these findings support the need for future work to further analyze how broader social structures condition the benefits of mothers' reading skills for children's health.

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  • Smith-Greenaway, Emily, 2013. "Mothers' reading skills and child survival in Nigeria: Examining the relevance of mothers' decision-making power," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 152-160.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:97:y:2013:i:c:p:152-160
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.08.011
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    Cited by:

    1. Emily Smith-Greenaway, 2020. "Does Parents’ Union Instability Disrupt Intergenerational Advantage? An Analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 445-473, April.
    2. C. Emily Hendrick & Leticia Marteleto, 2017. "Maternal Household Decision-Making Autonomy and Adolescent Education in Honduras," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(3), pages 415-439, June.
    3. Treleaven, Emily, 2023. "The relationship between extended kin resources and children's healthcare utilization: An analysis of family networks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).

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