Husband-wife roles as a correlate of contraceptive and fertility behaviour.

Abstract

Quantitative and qualitative techniques are used to explore respondents' views on contraceptive and fertility behavior in an attempt to determine the extent to which socioeconomic, cultural, and attitudinal variables influence the fertility decision-making process. 1100 female contraceptive users and non-users were sampled from Lahore and Faisalabad. The women were age 25 years and older, with at least 2 living children, and living with their husbands. Pregnant women were not included in the study. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) is used to identify meaningful underlying variables and reduce the multidimensionality of variables, while the chi-square test is used to explore the relationships between the predictor and dependent variables. Multiple linear regression is also used to establish the relative importance of each predictor variable. The comprehensive analysis found that preferences for smaller families and contraceptive use were consistently associated with modern attitudes and behavior with regard to the husband-wife relationship. Family income, husband's occupation, child mortality, and age at marriage did not help to explain reproductive behavior. Cultural setting and tradition influence to an important extent reproductive behavior independent of development in economic realities. Women's status needs to be improved in order to attain demographic-developmental goals.