- Author
- Ismail Shaiful Bahari and four co-authors
- Published
- 13 December 2021
- Kind
- Peer-reviewed systematic review and meta-analysis (BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth)
- Original
- pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8667458/
- Subject
- Science and medicine
What it is
Researchers at Universiti Sains Malaysia searched five databases up to April 2021. They screened studies of polygamy and mental health in women and children. They pooled results with a random-effects model.
What it says
- The review found 24 eligible studies, 23 of them at low risk of bias.
- Women in polygamous marriages had higher odds of depression, at 2.25.
- Distress, anxiety and panic disorder did not differ significantly for women.
- On the SCL-90 checklist, women in polygamous marriages scored higher on all pooled domains.
- Children with polygamous parents scored 0.21 higher on the Global Severity Index.
- Two studies reported lower school scores for children with polygamous parents.
- The authors conclude the psychological impact is relatively higher in polygamous marriage.
What evidence it gives
The review followed PRISMA and registered its protocol. It retrieved 1847 articles and assessed 24 studies. Included studies covered 5963 women and 1567 children. Results are pooled odds ratios and mean differences with confidence intervals.
Interests and limits
All included studies were cross-sectional, so the review cannot show cause. Most came from the Middle East, so culture and marriage form cannot be separated. The child results rest on two studies. Studies used different scales and only English papers were included. The PMC page showed a reCAPTCHA check, so a Wayback Machine copy was read. The authors declare no competing interests.