Serial marriages and AIDS in Masaka District
Adeokun, L.A.; Nalwadda, R.M.
Health Transition Review the Cultural Social and Behavioural Determinants of Health 7 Suppl: 49-66
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 1036-4005 PMID: 10169661 Document Number: 268482
Data were collected on the marital history of 823 men and 1225 women aged 12 years and older who had ever been involved in a regular union or marriage in the attempt to understand respondents' pattern of marital mobility and the possible links between serial marriages and the dynamics of the current AIDS epidemic in Masaka district. Males in polygamous unions engage in serial marriage since they have regular unions more than once in their lifetime and are often involved in more than one such union at a time. Serial marriage among females occurs in the form of transition from first to second and subsequent unions within a monogamous or polygamous framework. The authors describe the pattern of these serial marriages, the causes of union dissolution, and the relationship between the observed patterns and social and demographic factors such as sex, residence, education, and the household-level experience of a previous HIV/AIDS-related illness or death. Particular attention is given to the role of the death of a spouse and especially of death from AIDS in the dissolution of unions.