Table 4 Unadjusted and adjusted effect of household relationships on health seeking behaviour for ARI symptoms among under-fives in sub-Saharan Africa, 2012–2016

 Never married

1.02 (0.81–1.29)

1.19 (0.89–1.59)

1.15 (0.84–1.58)

0.91 (0.68–1.20)

1.09 (0.95–1.25)

 First order marriage, monogamy

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

 First order marriage, polygyny

0.96 (0.85–1.08)

0.86 (0.73–1.02)

0.87 (0.75–1.02)

0.88 (0.69–1.13)

0.90 (0.84–0.97)*

 Higher order marriage, monogamy

0.88 (0.74–1.04)

0.79 (0.64–0.97)*

0.89 (0.62–1.27)

0.84 (0.67–1.06)

0.85 (0.76–0.95)*

 Higher order marriage, polygyny

0.82 (0.68–0.99)*

0.79 (0.60–1.02)

1.04 (0.76–1.44)

0.65 (0.46–0.91)*

0.82 (0.72–0.93)*

 Formerly married

0.81 (0.63–1.04)

0.79 (0.61–1.02)

1.02 (0.79–1.33)

0.84 (0.64–1.09)

0.89 (0.78–1.00)

 Head

1.04 (0.92–1.19)

0.92 (0.78–1.09)

0.88 (0.74–1.05)

1.08 (0.92–1.26)

1.13 (1.03–1.24)*

 Wife

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

 Daughter/in-law

1.10 (0.99–1.23)

0.99 (0.84–1.17)

0.80 (0.63–1.01)

1.06 (0.90–1.25)

1.02 (0.93–1.12)

 Others

1.02 (0.89–1.16)

1.03 (0.83–1.27)

0.76 (0.53–1.09)

1.10 (0.87–1.38)

1.17 (1.03–1.33)*

 Never married

0.92 (0.72–1.17)

1.14 (0.85–1.54)

1.07 (0.71–1.61)

0.86 (0.65–1.15)

1.01 (0.88–1.17)

 First order marriage, monogamy

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

 First order marriage, polygyny

1.00 (0.88–113)

0.92 (0.77–1.09)

0.79 (0.58–1.09)

0.94 (0.73–1.21)

0.98 (0.89–1.07)

 Higher order marriage, monogamy

0.92 (0.78–1.10)

0.82 (0.66–1.01)

0.97 (0.67–1.41)

0.90 (0.71–1.14)

0.89 (0.80–1.00)

 Higher order marriage, polygyny

0.86 (0.71 (1.05)

0.82 (0.63–1.07)

1.12 (0.66–1.89)

0.71 (0.50–1.00)

0.85 (0.74–0.98)*

 Formerly married

0.83 (0.65–1.07)

0.82 (0.63–1.06)

1.00 (0.71–1.40)

0.86 (0.66–1.13)

0.91 (0.79–1.04)

 Head

1.20 (1.02–1.43)*

1.04 (0.85–1.27)

1.04 (0.82–1.32)

1.49 (1.20–1.85)*

1.17 (1.06–1.29)

 Wife

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

 Daughter/in-law

0.94 (0.81–1.09)

0.92 (0.74–1.13)

0.94 (0.67–1.31)

1.17 (0.93–1.49)

0.95 (0.86–1.05)

 Others

0.99 (0.82–1.18)

0.97 (0.72–1.29)

1.62 (0.96–2.74)

1.89 (1.35–2.66)*

1.11 (0.97–1.27)

 Country: Variance (SE)

0.2739 (0.1219)

0.06305 (0.05523)

13.8080 (12.8859)

0.1689 (0.1143)

1.3434 (0.4517)

 Community: Variance (SE)

0.2821 (0.0502)

0.17749 (0.0460)

0.1781 (0.0551)

0.0569 (0.0247)

0.1861 (0.0231)

 Log-likelihood

− 5476.2264

− 3326.2409

− 1767.8458

− 2651.6569

−13,310.475

 Wald statistic

148.32

132.1

67.46

88.94

324.54

 p-value

< 0.001

< 0.001

< 0.001

< 0.001

< 0.001