Fertility attitudes and behaviour among primary school teachers in Ibadan.

The present article examines the fertility preferences and performance among primary school teachers in Ibadan, Nigeria against the background of a negative relationship between women's status and fertility. This paper uses data obtained from a 1981 survey of fertility and family life among school teachers in Ibadan. 412 married female teachers from 41 selected schools were interviewed. Socioeconomic characteristics of the study population include a mean age of 33.3 years, Yoruba descent (92%), farming fathers (36%), originally form polygamous homes (2/3) at least professional certificate (73.8%), a marital age of 23, 16% involved in polygamous marriages, 88.5% Christians, and 11.5% Moslems. Contrary to expectations, the findings show no appreciable departure from local patterns; 70.7% of the survey population wanted at least 5 children compared to the average Yoruba woman whose ideal family consists of 6 children. The high fertility of the study population is attributable to a number of factors which include 1) low contraceptive awareness, 2) family background, 3) lack of considerable incompatibility between the teaching profession and motherhood, 4) past and present level of infant and child mortality in the Yoruba society, and 5) the generally low literacy level within the society. (author's modified)