Spousal communication, fertility preference and other factors affecting contraceptive use among married couples in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Objective:To assess and compare the relationship between spousal communication,fertility preference,and other factors with contraceptive use among married couples in Ekiti State,Nigeria.Methods:This cross-sectional study was carried out in AdoEkiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State,Nigeria between the 12th of August 2017 and the 15th of February 2018.A pre-tested,semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 976 respondents by a multi-stage sampling technique.Data were analyzed(univariate,bivariate,and binary logistic regression analysis)using SPSS version 24.0.Factors that showed statistical significance(P<0.05)were included in a binary logistic regression to determine significant predictors of contraceptive use.Results:The proportion of respondents currently using contraceptives was 56.9%.The education status of the respondents revealed that those with primary education were more likely to use contraceptives than those without formal education[adjusted odds ratio(aOR)8.4,95%confidence interval(CI)1.97-36.2,P<0.001].Respondents with fair spousal communication were more likely to use contraceptive than those with poor communication(aOR 4.9,95%CI 2.80-8.71,P<0.001).In addition,fertility preference of 4 or less children was found to be significantly associated with contraceptive use(aOR 3.0,95%CI 1.67-5.50,P<0.001)compared to a preference of more than 4 children.Finally,the urban respondents were more likely to use contraceptives than those in the rural setting(aOR 1.7,95%CI 1.16-2.41,P=0.047).Conclusions:Educational status,residential site,spousal communication,and fertility preference significantly influence the level of contraceptive use among married couples.Couples should endeavor to discuss more on issues bordering on their fertility preference and contraceptive issue.Government should formulate policies to improve the rural uptake of contraceptives using identified target interventions.

Quantifying the sources of heterogeneity of fertility preferences in China

There are no unanimous estimates on fertility preferences in China;they vary considerably across studies.Understanding this cross-study heterogeneity of reported preferred family size will contribute to the debates on the uncertainty of fertility in China.This paper quantified how much heterogeneity in aggregate-level fertility preferences can be explained by taking into account the demographic characteristics of the sample,its geographical location,and the measurement of fertility preferences.We retrieved 124 estimates of average preferred family size from 94 publications(from the year 2001 and onwards)in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database(CNKI)and used mixed-effect meta-regression model to investigate heterogeneity.We found that the average preferred number of children in China since 2001 ranged from 0.91 to 2.88,with an average of 1.70(SD=0.26).Demographic differences accounted for 23%,human geographic regionalization for 21%,and the measurement of fertility preferences for 13%of the between-study variation.Sample characteristics(demographic and regional differences)and the measurement of fertility preferences together accounted for 46%of the variation in average preferred fertility.The averaged preferred family size varies by differ-ent characteristics and measurement.This study also points out whether particular groups have higher or lower preferences.It helps researchers to put estimates from fertility preferences from single studies in perspective.Moreover,this study can help resolve why researchers have such different outlooks on the future fertility of China.