Polygyny and Marital Life Satisfaction: an Exploratory Study from Rural Cameroon

Abstract

Although some research has focused on the relationships of polygyny to fertility and to divorce, very little recent research has assessed relationships between polygyny and marital or life satisfaction. Using data collected in the spring of 1992 from a survey of 300 maternal-child dyads in rural zones of the Wes tern Province of Cameroon, measures of life and marital satisfaction were correlated with maternal marital status. There was a slight tendency for junior wives to be more satisfied with life, though not with marriage. However, an interaction effect between marital status and wife’s age was discovered, in which older senior wives were more satisfied with marriage than younger senior wives. A further analysis found a quadratic relationship between number of live children and life satisfaction for these rural mothers.