Victor Agadjanian

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of California, Los Angeles

In dialogue with the cross-national scholarship on gender and religion, the study uses a unique combination of rich qualitative and quantitative data from a predominantly Christian rural sub-Saharan setting to examine how churches modify, yet also sustain and even reinforce, patriarchal norms. It shows how churches replace the traditional, extended...

In this study, we investigate the association between men's labor migration and changes in their non-migrating wives’ self-rated health (SRH) over time using longitudinal data from rural Mozambique. In addition to comparing wives of non-migrants and wives of migrants, we account for variation in the economic impact of migration and in migrants’ pho...

Migration is commonly seen as a last resort for households impacted by climate shocks, given the costs and risks that migration typically entails. However, pre-existing labor migration channels may facilitate immediate migration decisions in response to climate shocks. This study explores the relationship between migration and droughts in a rural S...

Objective The study deploys an ethnolinguistic conceptual framework to examine variations in different dimensions of marital conservatism in the Kyrgyz Republic, a post‐Soviet nation in Central Asia, focusing on enduring, yet evolving, Russian linguo‐cultural influence. Background The global transformation of family and marriage systems has produc...

Labor migration is a massive global reality, and its effects on the well-being of nonmigrating household members vary considerably. However, much existing research is limited to cross-sectional or short-term assessments of these effects. This study uses unique longitudinal panel data collected over 12 years in rural Mozambique to examine long-term...

The study contributes to the understanding of the societal impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in the Global South by examining longer term implications of pandemic-induced disruptions and deprivations for social ties and psychosocial well-being. Using data from a survey of middle-aged women in rural Mozambique, the author finds a negat...

Connections between labour migration and food security of left‐behind households are still poorly understood. Using data from two waves of a longitudinal survey conducted among ever‐married women in rural Mozambique, we employ multi‐level ordered logit and negative binomial regressions to examine over time three possible pathways linking men's migr...

As the rest of the developing world, Sub‐Saharan Africa has experienced profound transformations in the institution of marriage. Yet, unlike most other regions, polygyny has remained widespread across the subcontinent. There is, however, evidence to suggest that the practice of polygyny is declining and that selection into polygynous unions based o...

Considerable research in western, low-fertility contexts has examined minority-vs.-majority fertility differentials, typically focusing on minority groups’ cultural idiosyncrasies and on socioeconomic disadvantages associated with minority status. However, the formation and functioning of ethnic complexities outside the western world often diverge...

Post-Soviet religious dynamics have attracted considerable scholarly attention, but their complexities remain poorly understood. Ethnic and gender intersections of religious identity and behavior are particularly understudied. This study examines these complexities and intersections using data of two rounds of a nationally representative survey fro...

Post-imperial ethnic identities and divides are often constructed and construed through direct and indirect references to imperial legacies. In this study, we use nationally representative survey data to examine proficiency, use, and valuation of the Russian language – a major such legacy of the Soviet empire – in Kyrgyzstan, a multiethnic Central...

Premarital sex is normatively unacceptable in Afghanistan, yet rapid social and cultural transformation in the country may be changing these traditional norms. In dialogue with cross-national scholarship, we examine attitudes toward premarital sex and experience of premarital sexual behaviours among urban Afghan youth. We use data from 1256 never m...

The Russian Federation is a major immigrant-receiving nation and hosts large immigrant populations from post-Soviet countries including Central Asia. However, there is yet little research on their health needs, and especially on mental health of immigrant women. This study uses qualitative data from 72 interviews with women from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikis...

Background: The scholarship on the association of religion and fertility has paid relatively little attention to East Asia, a region that has experienced rapid fertility declines. South Korea is an important setting to study this association as its fertility decreased dramatically and its population includes sizable shares of Buddhists, Catholics,...

Legal status has shown far-reaching consequences for international migrants’ incorporation trajectories and outcomes in Western contexts. In dialogue with the extant research, we examine the implications of legal status for psychosocial well-being of Central Asian migrant women in the Russian Federation. Using survey data collected through responde...

This study examines how Temporary Protected Status (TPS) may shape immigrants’ integration trajectories. Building on core themes identified in the immigrant incorporation scholarship, it investigates whether associations of educational attainment with labor market outcomes and with civic participation, which are well established in the general popu...

Labor migration is widespread and growing across the world. As migration grows, the economic outcomes of migration increasingly diversify, and so do its consequences for the well-being and health of both migrants and non-migrating household members. A considerable body of scholarship has examined the effects of migration on the physical and mental...

Objective This study examines trends over several decades in bridewealth marriage and analyzes the association of bridewealth with women's experiences in marriage in a rural sub‐Saharan setting. Background Bridewealth—payments from the groom's to the bride's family as part of the marriage process—has long been a central element of kinship and marr...

Globally, the share of women among international labour migrants has risen dramatically in the past several decades, but in many patriarchal settings with traditionally high levels of men’s out-migration the levels of women’s migration remain low. Using data from a nationally representative survey conducted in one such setting, Armenia, I examine p...

Ethno‐racial and linguistic boundaries have major implications for socio‐economic well‐being throughout the world, yet their specific effects vary greatly across contexts. The countries that were once part of the Soviet Union have seen dramatic transformations yet also exhibited remarkable continuities from the socialist era. This article contribut...

Objective This study contributes to a better understanding of the role of Christianity in the persistence of polygyny in sub‐Saharan Africa. Background Marital systems and practices are closely connected to religious norms, but these connections are often complex and contradictory. Polygynous marriage remains widespread in sub‐Saharan Africa, incl...

Context: Research on institutional child delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa typically focuses on availability and accessibility of health facilities. Cultural factors, including religion, that may facilitate or hinder the use of such services have not been well examined and remain poorly understood. Methods: The relationship between religious affili...

Considerable cross-national research has examined the impact of international labor migration on livelihoods in sending households and communities. Although findings vary across contexts, the general underlying assumption of this research is that migration represents a novel income-generating alternative to local employment. While engaging with thi...

This study examines the effects of social embeddedness on interest in politics and electoral behaviour using data from a nationally representative survey conducted shortly after the 2011 presidential election in Kyrgyzstan. We find that interest in politics is positively associated with community trust, public sector employment and a sense of natio...

Polygyny has shown a positive association with intimate partner violence, yet the nature and mechanisms of this association are not well understood. This study uses data from rural Mozambique to distinguish women in polygynous unions by rank and coresidence. Findings show that senior wives report higher rates of violence than their junior wife and...

The nation-building projects in much of post-socialist Eurasia have been characterized by the promotion of ethnic majorities and marginalization of minority groups. In dialogue with the scholarship on nation-building, ethnic exclusion and conflict, and ethnic migration, this study examines individual views on current and future interethnic relation...

Individual-level migration responses to economic fluctuations and political instability remain poorly understood. Using nationally representative survey data from Kyrgyzstan, we look at variations in levels and propensities of internal and temporary international migration and relate them to changes in the economic and political environment in that...

Divorce has been increasing worldwide, even in societies where religious impediments to it are strongest. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, divorce rates have risen rapidly since the mid-1990s. In this article, we investigate the attitude and propensity of young Iranians toward divorce and relate these attitudes and propensities to structural and id...

A growing body of research has argued that the traditional categories of stopping and spacing are insufficient to understand why individuals want to control fertility. In a series of articles, Timæus, Moultrie, and colleagues defined a third type of fertility motivation—postponement—that reflects a desire to avoid childbearing in the short term wit...

The Russian Federation is the scene of one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the world. In dialogue with the scholarship on gendered connections between migration and HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI), this study employs unique survey and qualitative data to examine HIV/STI-related risks and attitudes among working migrant women from t...

Background Access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services is critical for such outcomes as pregnancy and birth, prenatal and neonatal mortality, maternal morbidity and mortality, and prevention of vertical transmission of infections like HIV. Health facilities are typically set up where they can efficiently serve the nearby targeted popula...

In sub-Saharan settings, parental religion may have important implications for children’s health and well-being. Using survey data from rural Mozambique, we examine the relationship between women’s religion and the likelihood of their children being chronically malnourished (stunted). Multivariate analyses show that children of religiously affiliat...

BACKGROUND Migrant-vs.-native differentials in reproductive behavior are typically examined through the prism of socioeconomic and cultural constraints that characterize the migration process and experiences. However, the literature seldom factors in migrant legal status because necessary data is rarely available. OBJECTIVE The study seeks to fill...

How do marriages fare during times of dramatic social, political and economic transition? Transitional societies offer a unique context for studying marital instability as they are often buffeted by countervailing forces of modernization and re-traditionalization, in addition to socioeconomic and political changes. Using detailed and rich data from...

The use of population-based survey data together with sound statistical methods can enhance better estimation of HIV risk factors and explain variations across subgroups of the population. The distribution and determinants of HIV infection in populations must be taken into consideration. We analysed data from the HIV Prevalence and Behaviour Survey...

The chapter reviews research on forced migration and fertility, identifies problems and challenges in this research and present suggestions for future research avenues and priorities. It starts with a critical examination of the definitional ambiguities that hamper and constrain research on forced migration and fertility, then outlines the current...

In dialogue with mainly western literature on determinants of religious mobility and the evidence on the transformative role of mass education in developing settings, I examine the relationship of educational attainment with religious reaffiliation and disaffiliation in the context of rural and small-town sub-Saharan Africa. Adapting western schola...

Classic demographic theories conceptualize desired family size as a fixed goal that guides fertility intentions over the childbearing years. However, a growing body of research shows that fertility plans, even nominally long-term plans for completed childbearing, change in response to short-term conditions. Because of data limitations, much of this...

This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the outcomes of labour migration by focusing on the effects of migrant legal status on the economic and perceptual measures of migration success. To study the effects of legal status, we use a sample of Central Asian migrant women who work in Russia and of their native counterparts who occ...

We examine how the discontinuation of schooling among left-behind children is related to multiple dimensions of male labour migration: the accumulation of migration experience, the timing of these migration experiences in the child's life course, and the economic success of the migration. Our setting is rural southern Mozambique, an impoverished ar...

This study advances research on the role of personal networks as sources of financial and emotional support in immigrants’ close personal ties beyond the immediate family. Because resource scarcity experienced by members of immigrant communities is likely to disrupt normatively expected reciprocal support, we explored multi-level predictors of exch...

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Men’s labor migration has been shown to affect marital stability in various contexts, but heterogeneity in the relationship between migration and marital outcomes is not well understood. This study employs longitudinal data from rural Mozambique, a rapidly changing setting with massive yet diverse male labor out-migration, to examine the associatio...

Using data from a structured survey and in-depth interviews in three Russian cities, our study engages the scholarship on immigration legal regimes and racialization practices to examine the experiences of ethnoracially motivated harassment among working migrant women from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in Russia. The results of statistical...

South Korea was among the first countries to report both an abnormally high sex ratio at birth (SRB) and its subsequent normalization. We examine the role of son preference in driving fertility intentions during a period of declining SRB and consider the contribution of individual characteristics and broader social context to explaining changes in...

Proper allocation of limited healthcare resources is a challenging task for policymakers in developing countries. Allocation of and access to these resources typically varies based on how need is defined, thus determining how individuals access and acquire healthcare. Using the introduction of antiretroviral therapy in southern Mozambique as an exa...

Provision of effective contraception to HIV-positive women of reproductive age is critical to effective management of HIV infection and prevention of both vertical and horizontal HIV transmission in developing countries. This exploratory retrospective study examines contraceptive use during the prolonged post-partum period in a sample of 285 HIV-po...

Unlike in most of the world, HIV incidence in the former Soviet Union continues to rise. While international labor migration has been identified as a potentially important contributor to this trend, most attention has been focused on risks of male migrants themselves. This study uses recent household survey data to examine HIV-related perceptions a...

As in other post-Soviet settings, induced abortion has been widely used in Armenia. However, recent national survey data point to a substantial drop in abortion rates with no commensurate increase in modern contraceptive prevalence and no change in fertility levels. We use data from in-depth interviews with women of reproductive age and health prov...

Respondent Driven Sampling is a probability based sampling method that allows recruiting hard to reach populations through their social networks. Surveying migrant populations is challenging due to the absence of reliable statistics on and the knowledge of key characteristics of the target population (Platt et al. 2014). Irregular migrants in the R...

Migration is an increasingly common global phenomenon and has important implications for the well-being of family members left behind. Although extensive research has examined the impact of parental labor migration on school-age children, less is known about its effect on adolescents. In this study, the authors used longitudinal survey data collect...

Context: Although institutional coverage of childbirth is increasing in the developing world, a substantial minority of births in rural Mozambique still occur outside of health facilities. Identifying the remaining barriers to safe professional delivery services can aid in achieving universal coverage. Methods: Survey data collected in 2009 from...

Women's autonomy has frequently been linked with women's opportunities and investments, such as education, employment, and reproductive control. The association between women's autonomy and religion in the developing world, however, has received less attention, and the few existing studies make comparisons across major religious traditions. In this...

Background: Women's decision-making autonomy in developing settings has been shown to improve child survival and health outcomes. However, little research has addressed possible connections between women's autonomy and children's schooling. Objective: To examine the relationship between rural women's decision-making autonomy and enrollment statu...

The demographic literature on union formation in post-communist Europe typically documents retreat from marriage and increase in cohabitation. However, sociological and anthropological studies of post-Soviet Central Asia often point to a resurgence of various traditional norms and practices, including those surrounding marriage, that were suppresse...

To examine how the contraceptive behavior of women in rural southern Mozambique is shaped by their individual and household characteristics; community characteristics; access to family planning services; and characteristics of health facilities. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected mostly between January 20 and December 15, 2011, in rur...

Abstract Background: Women’s decision-making autonomy in developing settings has been shown to improve child survival and health outcomes. However, little research has addressed possible connections between women’s autonomy and children’s schooling. Objective: To examine the relationship between rural women’s decision-making autonomy and enrollme...

Several studies have shown that male migration is associated with decreased participation in paid labour force among women left behind. Typically these studies conclude that remittances received from migrant men, by boosting the household food and material security, often discourage women’s gainful employment, especially where the contribution of s...

This chapter presents results of several analyses dealing with the impact of men’s labor migration on their non-­ migrating wives and other household members in rural Armenia. It uses survey and qualitative data to examine the effects of migration on rural households’ attachment to their communities and on left-­ behind wives’ socio-­ psychological...

We use uniquely detailed data from a predominantly Christian high-fertility area in Mozambique to examine denominational differentials in fertility from two complementary perspectives—dynamic and cumulative. First, we use event-history analysis to predict yearly risks of birth from denominational affiliation. Then, we employ Poisson regression to m...

This study uses data from a survey of female labor migrants from three Central Asian countries – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – in Moscow, Russia, to examine factors that influence these women's plans to return to their home countries. The conceptual framework considers three types of factors of migrants' attachment to the host society –...

This study aims to add to the scant research on the association between labour migration and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It builds upon earlier findings suggesting that left-behind migrants' wives tend to have higher risks of contracting STIs than women married to non-migrants. Using data from a 2007 survey in rural Armenia, a post-Sovi...

Post-Soviet Central Asia has witnessed massive changes in economic, political and social spheres, which in turn have influenced demographic behaviours in areas of marriage, fertility and migration. Much of the research on changes in demographic behaviour has focussed on changes in fertility that is evident in all countries of Central Asia though th...

The western scholarship on religion and gender has devoted considerable attention to women’s entry into leadership roles across various religious traditions and denominations. However, very little is known about the dynamics of women’s religious authority and leadership in developing settings, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, a region of powerful...

The massive scale-up of HIV counseling, testing, and treatment services in resource-limited sub-Saharan settings with high HIV prevalence has significant implications for the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It also offers important broader policy lessons for improving access to critical health services. Applying GIS-based methods and multilevel re...

Utilization of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services can significantly impact health outcomes, such as pregnancy and birth, prenatal and neonatal mortality, maternal morbidity and mortality, and vertical transmission of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS. It has long been recognized that access to SRH services is essential to positive health...

The relationship between contraceptive use and religion remains a subject of considerable debate. This article argues that this relationship is rooted in context-specific institutional and organizational aspects of religious belonging and involvement. Drawing upon unique recent data from a population-based survey of women conducted in a predominant...

Declining marriage and fertility rates following the collapse of state socialism have been the subject of numerous studies in Central and Eastern Europe. More recent literature has focused on marriage and fertility dynamics in the period of post-crisis political stabilization and economic growth. However, relatively little research on marriage and...

Seasonal labor migration is common among men in many former Soviet republics. Little research has examined contraceptive use and induced abortion among women in such low-fertility, high-migration settings, according to husband's migration status. Combined data from 2,280 respondents of two surveys of married women aged 18-45 in rural Armenia-one co...

The impact of international labour migration on human wellbeing and socioeconomic development in communities of origin is an important yet understudied issue in contemporary migration research. This study examines whether men's labour migration from rural Armenia to Russia and other international destinations enhances the economic and social connec...

This study brings together the literature on social network approaches to social capital and health and on migration and HIV risks to examine how non-migrating wives of labor migrants use their personal networks to cope with perceived risks of HIV infection in rural southern Mozambique. Using data from a 2006 survey of 1,680 women and their dyadic...

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by HIV/AIDS in the world, with the proportion of HIV-infected adults being particularly high in southern Africa. The subcontinent is also characterized by large volumes of both internal and international migration, especially of a temporary and circular nature. Not surprisingly, the HIV–migration nexus...

Male labor migration is widespread in many parts of the world, yet its consequences for child outcomes and especially childhood mortality remain unclear. Male labor migration could bring benefits, in the form of remittances, to the families that remain behind and thus help child survival. Alternatively, the absence of a male adult could imperil the...

As the HIV epidemic evolves, researchers are devoting increased attention to the infection's effect on various life-course activities, including marriage and reproduction. The impact of HIV on decisions about childbearing is particularly important, given the role that vertical transmission plays in the persistence of the epidemic. Previous studies...

Summary The influence of religion on health remains a subject of considerable debate both in developed and developing settings. This study examines the connection between the religious affiliation of the mother and under-five mortality in Mozambique. It uses unique retrospective survey data collected in a predominantly Christian area in Mozambique...

Extensive research in both developed and developing countries has shown that preferences and intentions for future childbearing predict behavior. However, very little of this research has examined high-fertility contexts in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, the factors that increase or decrease correspondence between fertility desires and behavior...

The HIV/AIDS epidemic remains a major public health issue across the globe, and it is of particular concern in sub-Saharan Africa. Utilization of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services can significantly impact HIV prevention, transmission, and treatment. SRH service utilization may be determined by individual characteristics, such as educati...

In many high-fertility countries, and especially in sub-Saharan Africa, substantial proportions of women give non-numeric responses when asked about desired family size. Demographic transition theory has interpreted responses of "don't know" or "up to God" as evidence of fatalistic attitudes toward childbearing. Alternatively, these responses can b...

Religious organisations (ROs) are often said to play an important role in mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS. Yet, limitations of that role have also been acknowledged. While most of the literature has focused on ideological and individual-level implications of religion for HIV/AIDS, in this study we shift the focus to the organisational factors tha...

Labor migration profoundly affects households throughout rural Africa. This study looks at how men's labor migration influences marital fertility in a context where such migration has been massive while its economic returns are increasingly uncertain. Using data from a survey of married women in southern Mozambique, we start with an event-history a...

The study employs survey data from rural Mozambique to examine how men's labor migration affects their non-migrating wives' perceptions of HIV/AIDS risks. Using a conceptual framework centered on tradeoffs between economic security and health risks that men's migration entails for their left-behind wives, it compares women married to migrants and t...

The unique cultural and political history of Central Asia has produced intriguing ethnic variations in union formation. We use data from a survey of 1,535 young adults conducted in 2005 in northern Kyrgyzstan to examine ethnic patterns of entry into marriage versus cohabitation. To reflect the historic-cultural and political realities of Kyrgyzstan...

The unique cultural and political history of Central Asia has produced intriguing ethnic variations in union formation. We use data from a survey of 1,535 young adults conducted in 2005 in northern Kyrgyzstan to examine ethnic patterns of entry into marriage versus cohabitation. To reflect the historic-cultural and political realities of Kyrgyzstan...

This study explores challenges and obstacles in providing effective family planning services to HIV-positive women as described by staff of maternal and child health (MCH) clinics. It draws upon data from a survey of service providers carried out from late 2008 to early 2009 in 52 MCH clinics in southern Mozambique, some with and some without HIV s...

The separation of migrants from the family unit, as a result of labour migration, can have profound effects on family organization and the lives of family members. Using data from a 2006 survey of 1,680 married women from 56 villages in southern Mozambique, we examined the relationship between men's labour migration and the decision-making autonomy...

The effect of male circular labor migration on risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among women left behind has not been well studied. Our study examines this effect using data from a survey of 1,240 married women in rural Armenia, where international male labor migration has traditionally been very common. A multivariate comparison of wom...

This study investigates the effects of forced migration on child survival and health in Angola. Using survey data collected in Luanda, Angola, in 2004, just two years after the end of that country's prolonged civil war, we compare three groups: migrants who moved primarily due to war, migrants whose moves were not directly related to war, and non-m...

Economic condition and women’s status have been considered important elements in understanding fertility change. In this study, we examine their influence on North–South differences in parity-specific fertility intentions and births in India using the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) conducted in 1998–1999. The results show the persistence of...

In the globalization discourse, Christianity and Islam are often construed as representing two traditions that are conflicted and incompatible. This study engages the “clash of civilizations” discourse by examining Muslim-Christian differentials in the use of modern contraception in Nigeria, where Christians have a much higher contraceptive prevale...

This paper examines the position of undocumented Mexican immigrants into the Los Angeles workforce relative to that of the total work force and also relative to that of 8 other ethnic groups within the county. Undocumented Mexican men and women are shown to have had much lower levels of human capital than men and women in other ethnic groups. The l...

Maternal and Child Health (MCH) units, where VCT/PMTCT/HAART have been integrated with traditional services, play a critical role in the connection between the massive HAART rollout and reproductive behavior. In this article, we use data from semi-structured interviews with MCH workers and ethnographic observations carried out in southern Mozambiqu...