Despite an extensive literature on the psychological rewards of marriage and children in high‐income countries, research on these relationships in low‐income countries remains limited. This paper draws on data from 4,133 adult women and men interviewed in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health to examine how marital status, categorized as never, formerly, monogamously, and polygynously married, and number of children are associated with psychological well‐being. With respect to marital status, we find that women in polygynous unions fare worse than monogamously married women and this detrimental effect is stronger for women than for men. Formerly married men and women of reproductive age experience the worst psychological outcomes, although this association wanes with age. In contrast, the benefits of having children is only evident among older Malawian women. These findings offer novel insights into the patterns of nearly universal marriage and high fertility that characterize Malawi and much of sub‐Saharan Africa.

中文翻译：

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马拉维农村地区婚姻和儿童的心理益处。


尽管有大量关于高收入国家婚姻和子女的心理回报的文献，但对低收入国家这些关系的研究仍然有限。本文利用马拉维家庭与健康纵向研究中采访的 4,133 名成年女性和男性的数据，探讨婚姻状况（分为从未结婚、以前结婚、一夫一妻制和一夫多妻制）以及子女数量与心理健康的关系。 。就婚姻状况而言，我们发现一夫多妻制婚姻中的女性比一夫一妻制婚姻中的女性处境更糟，而且这种有害影响对女性的影响比对男性的更大。已婚育龄男性和女性经历的心理结果最差，尽管这种关联随着年龄的增长而减弱。相比之下，生孩子的好处只有在马拉维老年妇女中才明显。这些发现为马拉维和撒哈拉以南非洲大部分地区的近乎普遍婚姻和高生育率模式提供了新颖的见解。