A Note from Ghana on Chains of Change in Family Systems and Family Size

Abstract

In this paper a series of hypotheses linking urban residence and education with changes taking place in norms regarding family size are operationalized and their validity is demonstrated using data from 393 single, male Ghanaian students. The independent variables used are urban/rural residence and generation educated. The intervening variables which are conceptualized and measured in terms of ordinal scales are: approval of closure, functional individuation of the conjugal family, and approval of jointness of the marital role relationship. The dependent variable is attitude toward family size. No direct correlation is observed between the independent and dependent variables. The types of attitudes toward conjugal family closure and jointness of the marital relationship are seen to be crucial intervening variables--the links in a chain of domestic change already observed but, as of yet, inadequately explained and documented in the elite Ghanaian setting