Contraceptive use and intent in Guatemala

Abstract

Guatemala is characterized by low contraceptive use rates and one of the highest fertility rates in the Western Hemisphere. These rates are particularly extreme for the poorest segment of the population and for the indigenous population. However, notable increases in contraceptive use have occurred within the past ten years, indicating that Guatemala may be on the precipice of significant demographic change. The purpose of this research is to enhance understanding of the modern contraceptive revolution in Guatemala through identification of the segments of the Guatemalan population at most need for contraceptive and family planning services. Using the most recently available survey data, the 2002 Reproductive Health Survey data set (RHS), classification trees are used to determine the women with greatest need for reproductive health services. The results highlight the persistent marginalization of the poor and the indigenous and provide further insight into the impact of education, place of residence and couple characteristics on contraceptive use and intent.1 University of California at Santa Barbara. E-mail: grace@geog.ucsb.edu. This work was conducted, in part, while the author was a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock.http://www.demographic-research.org 335Grace: Contraceptive use and intent in Guatemala IntroductionMuch of Latin America has recently experienced a rapid decline in fertility accelerated by an increase in contraceptive use (PRB 2007). An increasing number of countries in both Central and South America are characterized by below replacement total fertility rates (TFR) and contraceptive prevalence rates (CPR) matching those of more developed countries (De Broe and Hinde 2006;PRB 2007;Rosero-Bixby, Martin, and Martin-Garcia 2008). However, a closer look at country and regional family planning behavior in Latin America reveals exceptional subgroups with unusually high TFR and correspondingly low CPR. Once a leader in family planning, and despite recent strides in contraceptive expansion and fertility decline, Guatemala has the highest TFR in Latin America and one of the lowest CPRs in the Western Hemisphere (Santiso-Galvez and Bertrand 2004;De Broe and Hinde 2006;PRB 2007). In a context where maternal and infant mortality rates are high, poverty is rampant, and malnutrition is common, empowering women with the knowledge and resources to plan their own families is vital. However, Guatemala's low CPR and high TFR suggest that the ability of women to freely determine the timing and number of births may be limited.The goal of this research is to identify the Guatemalan women with the greatest need for contraceptive services using the most recently 3 collected data. The results of the analysis aim to provide information helpful to monitoring Guatemala's evolving contraceptive needs and documenting the fertility transition in a contemporary less developed country. Differing from related research, this study incorporates flexible modeling techniqu...

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“…A study on reproductive aged Zambian women also exposed that wealth index is a powerful predictor of contraceptive use (Mutombo & Bakibinga, 2014). Moreover, the use of contraception among wealthier women in Guatemala is higher likely than their poor counterparts (Grace, 2010). A positive effect of employment status on contraceptive use was observed in Bangladeshi women; consequently, the improvement of contraceptive prevalence might be possible by creating jobs for women (Islam, Mondal, & Khatun, 2016).…”

Pathways to marriage and cohabitation in Central America

“…Perhaps more than any other country in Latin America, Guatemala's indigenous population is severely marginalized resulting in widespread deprivation of basic health and education services. Differences in the educational attainment, fertility levels, and contraceptive use of Guatemala's indigenous versus Ladino (the term used to describe the Spanish speaking, mixed-heritage portion of the population) adolescents have been documented and explored elsewhere (see, for example Grace (2010) ;Bertrand, Seiber, and Escudero (2001); Seiber and Bertrand (2002)). Given the vast differences in culture and lifestyle between the two groups, we anticipate different family formation norms and patterns of behavior.…”

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