Relationships of desire for no more children and socioeconomic and demographic factors in Sri Lankan women
De Silva, W.I.
Journal of Biosocial Science 24(2): 185-199
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-9320 PMID: 1583033 DOI: 10.1017/s0021932000019726Document Number: 319107
A researcher analyzed 1982 data on 4500 ever married women living in Sri Lanka to determine the socioeconomic status of those who do not want to have any more children and, among these women, those who do not use contraception. 58%, 85% and 95% of women with 2, 3, and 4 living children did not want any more children respectively (p.001). Even though women expressed a moderate son preference, it did not affect contraceptive use. Women with secondary education had a higher odds of wanting no more children (47%) than women with more than secondary education (23%), yet both educated groups were more significantly likely to not want to have any more children than uneducated women (p.001). Christians expressed the greatest desire to stop childbearing followed by the Sinhalese/Buddhists (70.6% and 64%). In fact, Christians wanted to do so earlier than all other groups at each parity. Both Christians and Sinhalese/Buddhists were more apt to want not more children than the Tamil/Hindus (58.4%) and the Moor/Muslims (59.4%) (p001). Estate women, who tend to be Indian Tamils and tea-pickers, wanted to have no more children than either urban or rural women (p.01). This may be because their employment rate was higher than males and they provided the bulk of family income. 15% of all women wanting to stop childbearing did not use contraception. In terms of religion, those at highest risk of pregnancy were the Tamil/Hindus (3 times higher than the Sinhalese/Buddhists; p.001) followed by the Moor/Muslims. Educated women were at a significantly lower risk than less educated women (p.001). The strongest predictor of pregnancy among women who wanted to stop childbearing was husband's disapproval of family planning (p.001). Thus family planning programs should target less educated Tamil/hindu and Moor/Muslim couples where the husband does not approve of contraception.