What Role Does Emigration Play in Changing Nuptiality Patterns? Exploring Polygamy among Senegalese Migrants to Europe and Stayers at Origin

Elisabeth K. Kraus , Federal Institute for Population Research
Nadja Milewski , Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), Germany

This study investigates plural marriage formation among migrants from Senegal to Europe employing a life-course perspective. Previous empirical literature on family demography of polygamous families in transnational settings is scarce. Our research aim is twofold: First, we estimate the extent and describe the patterns of polygamous marriages of both women and men who ever migrated to Europe, and compare their patterns to that of stayers in Senegal (using sequence analysis). Second, we estimate individual determinants of entering a polygamous marriage (using event-history analysis). Our empirical analysis draws on longitudinal retrospective survey data collected in the framework of the Migrations between Africa and Europe (MAFE-Senegal, 2008/2011) project. Our results show that emigration accelerates men’s transition to polygamy. Emigrants enter more often and at younger ages a second marriage than stayers. We interpret this as a type of re-traditionalizaton in nuptiality behaviour, which is in line with new household economics of migration.

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 Presented in Session 21. International Migration