Research Article
Cultural Beliefs and Infant Mortality in Nigeria
Table 2
Factor loadings and mean scores on cultural beliefs of infant mortality questionnaire items (N = 2400).
| Cultural belief | Ritual factor | Spirits factor | Mean score |
| Mother walking at night during pregnancy | 0.77 | | 2.23 | Wickedness of the birth attendant | 0.72 | | 2.38 | Mothers of twins refusing to dance in the market place after child’s birth | 0.63 | | 1.98 | Mothers breaking the taboo that forbids eating of salt after child’s birth | 0.60 | | 1.98 | Refusal of mothers to carry out some rituals after child’s birth | 0.57 | | 2.04 | Mothers walking in the hot afternoon without tying a stone | 0.56 | | 2.04 | Infant spitting or urinating in the fire | 0.55 | | 1.98 | Anger of the ancestors | 0.53 | | 2.11 | Mothers refusal to dedicate the newborn to the gods of the land | 0.49 | | 2.02 | Marital unfaithfulness of the woman to her husband | 0.46 | | 2.09 | Attacks in the dream | 0.46 | | 2.49 | Witches’ attack | | 0.81 | 2.03 | Charms’ attack from the enemy | | 0.78 | 1.99 | “Abiku” or “Ogbanje” spirit | | 0.73 | 1.85 | Attacks of ancestral spirits | | 0.68 | 1.86 | Jealous relatives | | 0.66 | 1.89 | Evil eyes of the co-wives | | 0.48 | 2.34 | Destiny | | 0.41 | 2.59 |
| Eigenvalues | 5.71 | 2.00 | | % of variance | 28.53% | 9.96% | |
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