Authors: Yingyi Lin, Emily Smith-Greenaway, Camila Cortes Rodriguez, Shelley Clark
Studies in Family Planning. First published: 23 November 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.70041
Abstract
High levels of premarital childbearing in Africa have spurred considerable interest in its consequences for women. Premarital childbearing corresponds with women’s poor health, as well as their subsequent life course outcomes, including their marriage timing and quality. However, this work has not considered the survival of women’s premaritally born children, leaving unclear what happens to unmarried mothers when their [newborns] do not survive. In this paper, we ask how infant death affects the subsequent life course outcomes of unmarried mothers. We analyze recent Demographic and Health Survey data from 26 countries to examine the marital outcomes of unmarried mothers —differentiating between those whose firstborn survived infancy and those whose did not. We find that, although premarital childbearing is generally known to correspond with marriage disadvantages, unwed mothers whose premarital births ended in the death of an infant have distinctive marital trajectories and experiences compared to their peers with a surviving child. Although child loss accelerates unmarried mothers’ entry into marriages, these bereaved mothers are more likely to marry less educated, polygynous, and violent husbands, especially among younger birth cohorts. The results demonstrate the double disadvantages that unmarried (girls and) women face in both bearing and losing a child.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data used for this analysis are available in the Demographic and Health Survey Program. Data need to be requested but are publicly available.