Consistency between reproductive preferences and behavior: the Sri Lankan experience
De Silva, W.I.
Studies in Family Planning 22(3): 188-197
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0039-3665 PMID: 1949101 DOI: 10.2307/1966645Document Number: 314830
Data collected in the 1982 Sri Lanka Contraceptive Prevalence Survey and the 1985 Sri Lanka Contraceptive Survey, a follow-up study, were used to examine the reliability of respondents' preferences for additional children. The surveys involved interviews with women from rural and urban areas as well as those living on tea estates. At the aggregate level, consistency was seen as remarkable: in 1982, 47% of women said they wanted more children and in 1985, 49% had more, thus there was a slight excess of actual over wanted fertility. Even though some inconsistencies existed, at the individual level preferences were moderately predictive of subsequent behaviour. Unwanted fertility was related not only to women's demographic characteristics, educational level and place of residence, whether urban or rural, but also to disagreement with their husbands on desired fertility. More of those who believed that their husbands wanted additional children than those who believed otherwise reported births in the follow-up period. Non-users of contraception were over three times more likely than users to have an unwanted birth.