Determinants of contraceptive use in Morocco: stopping behaviour in traditional populations

Abstract

The determinants of modern contraceptive use in traditional populations are analysed in married women aged 30-44 living in the province of Marrakech (Morocco). Women who have never used contraception have smaller family sizes than those who do: the number of live children (or live births) is the variable with maximum predictive power on contraceptive use, while child mortality is the main inhibiting factor. The probability of contraceptive use increases with female age at marriage and decreases with the woman's age, indicating a generational change in reproductive behaviour. The socioeconomic variables education, employment and residence, have no significant independent predictive character on contraceptive use, although the interaction between education and residence does. The paper evaluates the hypothesis that traditional populations in the initial phase of their demographic transition resort to modern contraception in order to stop childbearing, when they have reached a desired number of children, rather than to space births or reduce their fertility.

Currently married women with an unmet need for contraception in Eritrea: Profile and determinants

“…The reverse is, however, true for wanting to limit family size; women at older ages and with higher parity are more likely to wish to have no more children. This supports the hypothesis that traditional populations in the initial phase of their demographic transition resort to stopping childbearing when they have reached a desired number of children, rather than spacing births (Varea et al 1996). Women with primary or higher education who live in the central and southern regions and who discuss family planning with their partner are also more likely to wish to space their births.…”

Do “helpers at the nest” increase their parents' reproductive success?

“…Their reproductive life took place between 1930 and 1980, i.e., when traditional societies of local Berber peasantry were fully functional (the first campaign for family planning in the area started in the early 1980s). The data were collected in 1984, and have been described elsewhere (Crognier, 1996(Crognier, , 1997(Crognier, , 1998a(Crognier, , 1998bCrognier et al, 1992Crognier et al, , 1993Varea et al, 1996).…”

Fertility Changes in Rural Moroccan Berbers during the 20th Century

“…The changes were probably the outcome of a younger age at last birth: in the 2003 EPSF, 74% of women declared that they were using contraceptives in a growing proportion with age, in particular when family size reaches 3-4 offspring [15]. On the other hand, Varea et al's study on the same Berber group [19] has already noted the use of contraceptives among women when family size is judged to be high. Although no direct data was available, there was little doubt that the cultural trait wherein a mother is expected to stop bearing a child upon becoming a grandmother cannot but have been facilitated and reinforced by access to contraceptives.…”

“…They included socio-economic items and the reproductive history of each married woman whatever her age. The overall information yielded by this first survey has been published in various doctoral dissertations and publications (see, for example, [2,[5][6][7]11]), among which those developed by Varea [18,19] specifically refer to the Guedmiua area.…”

“…In this last cohort it was late and induced the observed heterogeneity of variances. The lack of available data in recent cohorts does not allow us to test the hypothesis that contraceptives would help close the reproductive span and shift the ultimate birth to a younger age [19]. The interval between last birth and menopause computed for the first four cohorts averaged 10 years.…”