A Statistical Analysis of Son Preference among ScheduledTribe and Non-Scheduled Tribe Groups in KokrajharDistrict of Assam, India

This study examines the influence of different social, economic and demographic ‎factors that culminates into son preference among scheduled tribe and non- scheduled tribe found ‎in Kokrajhar district of Assam. Data were collected from a household survey of currently ‎married women of reproductive age group 15-49 years using multi-stage sampling method. ‎Cross tabulation, Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis was carried out for finding out ‎relationships between the socio-economic and demographic variables on son preference. ‎Findings show that son is important for old age security reasons among scheduled tribe people ‎and for legacy continuation in case of non- scheduled tribe. The percentage distribution of son ‎preference by selected characteristics depicts that son preference is high among the non- ‎scheduled tribe as compared to scheduled tribe. Logistic regression shows that the type of family, ‎use of Contraceptives and educational level of women play a significant role on son preference ‎among scheduled tribe and type of family, educational level of husband and religion of husband ‎has the significant affect on son preference among non- scheduled tribe. The findings of the ‎study reveal that son preference is an important indicator of fertility differentials in Kokrajhar ‎district‎.