Population Council Research that makes a difference

Population Association of America (PAA) 2012 Annual Meeting
3–5 May

Abstract

"Will contraceptive use go up if Pakistani couples keep talking?"
Syeda Saman Naz and Batool Zaidi

Pakistan’s latest demographic and health survey shows a slowdown in the rate of fertility decline and a stagnant contraceptive prevalence rate. All the major reproductive health surveys show an increasing proportion of women reporting 'husband disapproval' as the primary reason for not using any contraception, largely ignoring husbands' response on fertility desires. This paper uses a nationally representative survey from 5,208 couples. Using multiple logistic regressions and multinomial discrete-time hazard regression models, it will analyze the influence of inter-spousal communication on couples' perceptions and fertility preferences and how these factors in turn influence uptake of contraception and the contraceptive use dynamics (discontinuation, failure and switching). Preliminary results show that wife’s perception of husband’s fertility is the strongest predictor of contraceptive use. Therefore the obstacle is not so much men’s disapproval but the lack of communication on fertility preferences and attitudes between the couple that lead to inaccurate perceptions.

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