Household Structures in Rural Populations of South Togoland

In: Journal of comparative family studies, Band 17, Heft 2, S. 219-232

Abstract

This text studies, in the rural populations of South Togoland, variations in family sizes and structures by comparing them to the socio-demographic characteristics of the heads of household and the characteristics of the native populations. This comparative analysis utilizes factor analysis to distinguish two main components in the households the nucleus and the peripheral component—and three groups of household type. The distribution of the family structures reveals an important difference between populations which is based, on the one hand, on the disparity between the total household sizes and the nuclear components, and, on the other hand, on the existence or nonexistence of a number of peripheral individuals.