Influence of family head's reproductive behaviour on the use of modern contraceptive methods by other members of the family in rural Bangladesh
Kamal, N.
Journal of Biosocial Science 28(3): 297-303
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-9320 PMID: 8698709 DOI: 10.1017/s0021932000022367Document Number: 297633
In Bangladesh, traditional family systems or extended families and respect for the opinions of the family head still prevail. Bangladeshi women and couples are therefore not likely to decide on their own whether or not to use contraception. In rural Bangladesh, the unit of dwelling is a bari, commonly a patrilineal family home housing one or more households sharing a common compound within the same boundary wall. Bari members also share common socioeconomic and cultural patterns. One person is usually regarded as the head of the family, the bari head, and he influences many decisions in the family. The analysis of 1991 Contraceptive Prevalence Survey data on 2774 women and their husbands from 16 rural clusters of Bangladesh found that the probability of use of modern contraception by eligible family members of a household increases significantly if the household head himself is a user. Multinomial logistic regression showed contraceptive use to also be significantly related with maternal age, parity, education, socioeconomic status, and experience of child mortality. Inclusion of ever use of modern contraceptives by the family head or his wife showed family head's religiosity to be a significant predictor of use, apart from his age and parity, and after controlling for socioeconomic correlates.