Mothers who exceed their ideal family size (IFS) may find themselves caring for more children than desired. In the absence of reliable and desirable prenatal controls of family size, mothers may foster-out children to reduce burdens of childrearing, particularly in contexts where fostering is common. Using six rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys collected in Uganda between 1988 and 2016, I explore the relationship between exceeding IFS and child out-fostering, proposing that fostering-out may serve to manage excess fertility and that this relationship may change as actual and desired fertility declines. Models are run separately for mothers and children aged 0–17 to explore mothers’ overall out-fostering behavior versus out-fostering strategies for children. Results at the mother level suggest a strong positive relationship between exceeding IFS and out-fostering that remains relatively stable over time, but results at the child level indicate children's age explains the relationship between mothers’ exceeding IFS and being fostered-out, demonstrating the nuances of how family size preferences might impact family life in practice. Though mothers report a desire for smaller families over time, childbearing and childrearing behaviors, including high fertility and child out-fostering, remain consistent over the course of Uganda's fertility transition, signifying the central role out-fostering plays in Ugandan families.

中文翻译：

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乌干达的儿童寄养和家庭规模偏好

超过理想家庭规模 (IFS) 的母亲可能会发现自己照顾的孩子数量超出了预期。在缺乏可靠和理想的家庭规模产前控制的情况下，母亲可能会寄养孩子以减轻抚养孩子的负担，特别是在寄养现象普遍的情况下。我利用 1988 年至 2016 年间在乌干达收集的六轮人口和健康调查，探讨了超过 IFS 与儿童寄养之间的关系，提出寄养可能有助于管理过度生育，并且这种关系可能会根据实际和期望而改变生育能力下降。针对 0-17 岁的母亲和儿童分别运行模型，以探索母亲的总体外养行为与儿童的外养策略。母亲层面的结果表明，超过 IFS 与寄养之间存在很强的正相关关系，并且随着时间的推移，这种关系保持相对稳定，但儿童层面的结果表明，儿童的年龄解释了母亲超过 IFS 与被寄养之间的关系，展示了细微差别家庭规模偏好如何实际影响家庭生活。尽管随着时间的推移，母亲们希望拥有较小的家庭，但在乌干达的生育转型过程中，生育和养育孩子的行为，包括高生育率和寄养儿童，仍然保持一致，这表明寄养在乌干达家庭中发挥着核心作用。