Contraceptive Use among Married Kurdish Women in the City of Mahabad A Discriminant Analysis of Affecting Factors
Volume 14, Issue 2, Summer 2012, Pages 151-175
H. Hosseini, B. Bagi
Abstract Despitean increased awareness ofwomen andtheir accesstocontraceptive devices, there are still womenwhodo not usethesedevices. Not usingcontraception is followed by unplannedpregnanciesand a likely abortion wouldaffect maternal and childhealth. The aimofthis paper isto investigate the prevalenceofcontraceptionamongmarriedKurdish women 15-49years old,in the city ofMahabad. Data are taken from Mahabad Fertility Survey (MFS) conducted on a sample of over 700 households in April of 2012. The resultsshow a widespreaduse ofcontraception among population under the study, to the effect that74.3percent ofwomenwere usingcontraception at the time of survey. Based on thisstudy,the share of modern and traditional methods ofcontraceptive useis 71.2 and 28.8 percent respectively. The results of discriminantanalysis showed that factors such as costs associated with socio-cultural oppositions and the number of surviving children have the most effect on women’s use of contraception. Women's autonomy andtheir attitudes towardsthe costs andbenefitsofchildren are among determinant cultural variables in this respect. The research findings indicate that reducing perceived costs of contraception, improving women's knowledgeaboutmodernmethods ofcontraception, and establishing legitimacy for social/cultural use of these devices play an important rolein implementingthe use ofcontraceptionandthe promotion of maternal and childhealth.