Educational differentials in the realisation of fertility intentions: Is sub-Saharan Africa different?

Channon, Melanie; Harper, Sarah

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0219736

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Channon and Harper [ 47 ] also espoused that, in contemporary era, women have competing life goals and this usually translates into less demand for children [ 17 ]. They maintained that, for highly educated women, it is sometimes problematic for them to combine many children and life goals such as occupying certain managerial position that will not allow certain amount of maternity leave within a given period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of desire for more children among childbearing women in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for fertility control

Seidu

Armah‐Ansah

Budu

et al. 2020

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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Background Despite the extensive research on fertility desires among women the world over, there is a relative dearth of literature on the desire for more children in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study, therefore, examined the desire for more children and its predictors among childbearing women in SSA. Methods We pooled data from 32 sub-Saharan African countries’ Demographic and Health Surveys. A total of 232,784 married and cohabiting women with birth history, who had complete information on desire for more children made up the sample for the study. The outcome variable for the study was desire for more children. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results were presented using adjusted odds ratios (aOR), with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results The overall prevalence of the desire for more children was 64.95%, ranging from 34.9% in South Africa to 89.43% in Niger. Results of the individual level predictors showed that women aged 45–49 [AOR = 0.04, CI = 0.03–0.05], those with higher education [AOR = 0.80, CI = 0.74–0.87], those whose partners had higher education [AOR = 0.88; CI = 0.83–0.94], women with four or more births [AOR = 0.10, CI = 0.09–0.11], those who were using contraceptives [AOR = 0.68, CI = 0.66–0.70] and those who had four or more living children [AOR = 0.09 CI = 0.07–0.12] were less likely to desire for more children. On the other hand, the odds of desire for more children was high among women who considered six or more children as the ideal number of children [AOR = 16.74, CI = 16.06–17.45] and women who did not take decisions alone [AOR = 1.58, CI = 1.51–1.65]. With the contextual factors, the odds of desire for more children was high among women who lived in rural areas compared to urban areas [AOR = 1.07, CI = 1.04–1.13]. Conclusions This study found relatively high prevalence of women desiring more children. The factors associated with desire for more children are age, educational level, partners’ education, parity, current contraceptive use, ideal number of children, decision-making capacity, number of living children and place of residence. Specific public health interventions on fertility control and those aiming to design and/or strengthen existing fertility programs in SSA ought to critically consider these factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of desire for more children among childbearing women in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for fertility control

Seidu

Armah‐Ansah

Budu

et al. 2020

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, due to the various economic activities of those in high socio-economic activities, they might not have more children as opposed to those who are in the low socio-economic status. Another plausible explanation by Channon and Harper [ 32 ] is that in contemporary era, women have competing life goals. They maintained that for highly educated women, it is sometimes problematic for them to combine many children and life goals such as occupying certain managerial position that will not allow certain amount of maternity leave within a given period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-economic and demographic factors associated with fertility preferences among women of reproductive age in Ghana: evidence from the 2014 Demographic and Health Survey

et al. 2021

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Background Understanding women’s desire to have more children is critical for planning towards future reproductive health behaviour. We examined the association between socio-economic and demographic factors and fertility preferences among women of reproductive age in Ghana. Methods This study used data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The sample consisted of 5389 women of reproductive age. We fitted Binary logistic regression models to assess the association between socio-economic status and fertility preferences, whiles controlling for demographic factors. The results were presented as crude odds ratios (cORs) and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) together with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Results Approximately 60% of women of reproductive age in Ghana desired for more children. Women with no formal education were more likely to desire for more children compared to those with higher level of education (aOR = 2.16, 95% CI 1.29–3.48). The odds of desire for more children was higher among women who lived in rural areas compared to those who lived in urban areas (aOR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.01–1.53). With region, women who lived in the Northern region were more likely to desire for more children compared to those who lived in the Ashanti region (aOR = 4.03, 95% CI 2.69–6.04). Similarly, women who belonged to other ethnic groups were more likely to desire for more children compared to Akans (aOR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.35–2.35). The desire for more children was higher among women with 0–3 births compared to those with four or more births (aOR = 7.15, 95% CI 5.97–8.58). In terms of religion, Muslim women were more likely to desire for more children compared to Christians (aOR = 1.87, 95% CI 1.49–2.34). Conclusion This study concludes that women in high-socio economic status are less likely to desire more children. On the other hand, women in the Northern, Upper East and those belonging to the Islamic religious sect tend to desire more children. To aid in fertility control programmes designing and strengthening of existing ones, these factors ought to be critically considered.

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“…This observation cannot be easily explained, and it needs to be further explored in future studies. Nonetheless, "unrealized fertility" is common in SSA [46,47], and factors such as socioeconomic constraints, competing alternatives, or health issues may make clients opt for permanent contraception despite not having achieved their desired number of children [47].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Individual- and country-level correlates of female permanent contraception use in sub-Saharan Africa

et al. 2020

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Background Female permanent contraception is a cost-effective contraceptive method that can help clients with the desire to limit childbearing achieve their reproductive intention. However, despite its benefits, the use of FPC remains low in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and limited studies have examined the correlates of its uptake. In this study, we assessed the individual- and country-level factors associated with the use of FPC among married or in-union women using modern contraceptive methods to limit childbearing in SSA. Methods This study was a secondary data analysis of individual- and country-level data obtained from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program and three open data repositories. The study included 29,777 married or in-union women aged 15–49 years using modern contraceptive methods to limit childbearing from DHS conducted in 33 sub-Sahara African countries between 2010 and 2018. We performed descriptive statistics and fitted multilevel logistic regression models to determine the predisposing, enabling, and need factors associated with the use of FPC. Results Approximately 13% of the women used FPC. About 20% of the variance in the odds of using FPC was attributable to between-country differences. In the full model, the significant individual-level factors associated with the use of FPC compared with other modern contraceptive methods were: age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.10; 95%CI = 1.08–1.12), living children (OR = 1.11, 95%CI = 1.04–1.16), high household wealth (OR = 1.39, 95%CI = 1.18–1.64), rural residence (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.71–0.97), joint contraceptive decision with partner (OR = 1.68, 95% = 1.43–1.99), contraceptive decision by partner and others (OR = 2.46, 95% = 1.97–3.07), and the number of living children less than the ideal number of children (OR = 1.40, 95%CI = 1.21–1.62). The significantly associated country-level factors were births attended by skilled health providers (OR = 1.03, 95%CI = 1.00–1.05) and density of medical doctors (OR = 1.37, 95%CI = 1.01–1.85). Conclusions Our results suggest that both individual- and country-level factors affect uptake of FPC in SSA. Increasing geographic, economic, and psychosocial access to FPC may improve its uptake in SSA.

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Educational differentials in the realisation of fertility intentions: Is sub-Saharan Africa different?

Cited by 27 publications

References 35 publications

Drivers of desire for more children among childbearing women in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for fertility control

Drivers of desire for more children among childbearing women in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for fertility control

Socio-economic and demographic factors associated with fertility preferences among women of reproductive age in Ghana: evidence from the 2014 Demographic and Health Survey

Individual- and country-level correlates of female permanent contraception use in sub-Saharan Africa

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