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IBA faculty and PhD scholar co-author a paper on examining contraceptive utilization behavior in Pakistani women

Professor and Director, Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), Dr. Lubna Naz; and PhD Economics scholar, School of Economics and Social Science (SESS), Umema Amin Siddiqui co-authored a paper titled ‘Examining contraceptive utilization behavior in Pakistani women’, published in the Reproductive Health Journal.

Abstract

Background

There is a dearth of research examining the couple characteristics in determining contractive utilization behavior in developing countries. This study fills the gap by analyzing the roles of women’s intra-household bargaining power and spousal age differentials in predicting contraceptive utilization behavior in Pakistani women.

Methods

A sample of 13,331, excluding pregnant and sexually inactive married women aged 15–49, was extracted from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18. The dataset is cross-sectional. Furthermore, binary regressions were employed to examine the association of women's intrahousehold bargaining power and spousal age difference with contraceptive utilization without and after accounting for all potential covariates.

Results

Only 33% of women use contraceptives, while 30% express an intention to use contraceptives in the future. Almost all women (98%) knew about modern contraceptives. Compared to same-age couples, higher odds of current contraceptive use are observed among women whose husbands are at least 20 years older than them or whose husbands are young to them.

Conclusion

Findings underscore the importance of considering the couple’s characteristics in reproductive healthcare programming and policies.

The paper can be accessed here.