| Modern contraceptive behaviour of Indian women: is spousal violence a constraint? |
| Authors: |
Avijit Debnath, Niranjan Roy, and Nazira Mazumder |
| Source: |
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 33(7/8): 426-436; DOI: 10.1108/IJSSP-08-2012-0072 |
| Topic(s): |
Contraception
Domestic violence
Family planning
|
| Country: |
Asia
India
|
| Published: |
JUL 2013 |
| Abstract: |
Purpose
– The main goal of the paper is to study the effect of intimate partner violence on wives' participation in adopting modern contraceptive as a method of family planning in India.
Design/methodology/approach
– The authors' analysis uses data from the NFHS-III (2005-2006) based on a nationally representative sample of 109,041 households, and 124,385 women (15-49 years). The sample covers 99 percent of India's population living in all 29 states. Both bivariate and multivariate techniques have been used to analyze data. The bivariate analysis in the form of scatter diagram has been used to examine the association between “use of modern contraceptive” and “spousal violence”, while multivariate analysis in the form of logistic regression has been carried out to assess this association after controlling other variables.
Findings
– The study reveals that spousal violence negatively affects wives' participation in adoption of modern contraceptive, but that their knowledge of contraceptive, religion, and level of women empowerment should be taken into account as well. Women with higher knowledge about contraceptive have been found to use more modern contraceptive. Muslim women have relatively lower modern contraceptive prevalence rate and they have an inclination for traditional methods. Similarly, modern contraceptive prevalence is lower among women who enjoy relatively higher empowerment. In fact, it has been found from the study that women empowerment has a high positive correlation with traditional contraceptive prevalence rate.
Originality/value
– This paper is the first attempt at examining the association between spousal violence and contraceptive behaviour in India on a national basis covering every corner of the country. The findings of the study clearly stress the importance of spousal violence prevention measures as supplemental to family planning measures. However, it will be erroneous to assume that mere passing of bills in the parliament and making laws will solve the problem which is deeply rooted in the society.
Keywords: Spousal violence, Contraceptive, Family planning, Logistic regression, India, Violence, Domestic violence, Birth control, Women |
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