Unmet Need and Sex: Investigating the Role of Coital Frequency in Fertility Control

Bell, Suzanne O.; Bishai, David

doi:10.1111/sifp.12012

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…For married women, there has been either little change across age groups or a slight inverted U-shaped curve of sexual activity by age. These results are in line with findings from other studies that report little variation in sexual activity across reproductive ages for countries in Asia and Africa (Brewis & Meyer, 2005;Bell & Bishai, 2017). The apparent decline in sexual activity in peak childbearing ages for married women in Guinea, Mozambique, Nepal and Senegal, may be related to long periods of sexual abstinence during the postpartum period or spousal separation due to temporary migration, as discussed above.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…As anticipated, it also has relevance for understanding the impact of contraceptive use on other reproductive health outcomes such as unintended pregnancies and abortions averted. This analysis shows complex patterns in sexual activity by age and marital status and therefore sexual activity should be integrated in analyses of exposure to pregnancy and resulting fertility patterns (Brown, 2000;Bell & Bishai, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On average, the estimated proportion of married women having unmet need dropped by 3.4 percentage points when women having no/infrequent sex were treated as having no unmet need. Bell and Bishai (2017) found significant differences in sexual activity between women with unmet need for family planning and women using contraceptives for spacing or limiting, and they suggested that despite being categorized as having an unmet need, many women may nevertheless be taking measures to control their fertility through regulating the frequency of marital coitus, thus reducing their risk of unintended pregnancy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sexual activity by marital status and age: a comparative perspective

2019

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This paper presents an analysis of trends in sexual activity by marital status and age, and their associations with contraceptive use. Understanding levels of, and trends in, sexual activity is important for assessing the needs for family planning services and for analysing commonly used family planning indicators. Data were taken from 220 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) and 62 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICSs) to provide insights into sexual activity by marital status and age in a total of 94 countries in different regions of the world. The results show the sensitivity of the indicator with respect to the definition of currently sexually active, based on the timing of last sexual intercourse (during the last 4 weeks, 3 months, or 1 year). Substantial diversity in sexual activity by marital status and age was demonstrated across countries. The proportion of married women reporting recent sexual activity (sexual intercourse during the last 4 weeks) ranged from 50% to 90%. The proportion of unmarried women reporting recent sexual activity did not exceed 50% in any of the 94 countries with available data, but showed substantial regional differences: it appeared to be rare in Asia and extremely varied within Africa, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. Among married women, sexual activity did not vary much by age group, while for unmarried women, there was an inverted U-pattern by age, with the youngest age group (15–19 years old) having the lowest proportion sexually active. The proportion of women who reported currently using contraception and reported not being sexually active varied by the contraceptive method used and was overall much greater among unmarried women. The evidence presented in this paper can be used to improve family planning policies and programmes to serve the diverse needs, for example regarding method choice and service provision, of unmarried women.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sexual activity by marital status and age: a comparative perspective

2019

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“…Expectedly, among sexually inactive respondents due to postpartum abstinence, the likelihood of using contraceptives was significantly very low. The pattern is similar with findings from other studies that have established an association between coitus and contraceptive use (Westoff, 1974;Blanc & Rutenberg, 1991;Bell & Bishai, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Latent and Under-explored Determinants of Contraceptive Use in Nigeria

Odimegwu

Adewoyin

2020

Sex Res Soc Policy

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Introduction The Nigerian population policy targeted a 30.2% prevalence of modern contraceptives among its population by the year 2015. In spite of the widespread knowledge of contraceptive use among the population, the prevalence stood at 12% in 2018. This study, riding on several previous studies on the determinants of contraceptive use in Nigeria, investigates the latent and under-explored determinants against the background that what is known has not significantly translated to the realization of the country's population policy targets. Methods Using data on 27,274 married and in-union women aged 15-49 from the 2013 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey, the relationships between sex preference, family composition, intimate partner violence, and coital frequency and contraceptive use were analyzed using bivariate statistics and logistic regression. Results The prevalence of contraceptive use was 9.9%, and in both the unadjusted and adjusted regression models with other known sociodemographic confounders of contraceptive use, family composition, and active coital frequency predicted increased odds of utilization (P < 0.001). Preference for sons was latent and implicated in family composition and contraceptive use. Conclusions The study concludes that ethnic differences and cultural attributes of the ethnic groups which underlie issues of family composition should be given prominence in efforts at scaling up contraceptive use in Nigeria. Policy Implications With the findings from this study, population control policies in Nigeria and efforts at scaling up contraceptive utilization in particular, should be tailor-made to accommodate ethnic differences and inherent cultural attributes of the more than 380 ethnic groups in the country as this was found to underlie fertility preferences and how family composition is viewed.

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“…16 Also, like unmet need, it assumes that all married women are exposed to the risk of pregnancy, which is demonstrably untrue and biases measures of need upward. 17 Demand satisfied with modern methods is a key indicator for Sustainable Development Goal target 3.7 to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services by 2030.…”

Section: Historical Perspective Of Need-based Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%