Concordance in Spousal Reports of Current Contraceptive Use in India

Dipti Govil , International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Nidhi Khosla, California State University, East Bay

Couple-level reports of contraception are important as wives and husbands may give different reports about contraceptive use. Using matched couple-data (N=62910), from India’s NFHS–IV (2015-16), this paper examines concordance in spousal reports of current contraceptive use and its differentials. Reporting of contraceptive use was higher among wives (59%) than husbands (25%). Concordance was low; 16.5% couples reported use of the same method, while 21% reported use of any method. There existed a huge denial from husbands on use of female sterilization. Multivariate analysis shows that concordance was low in rural and Southern India, among younger women and women with lower wealth-index. Men’s control over household decision-making and negative attitudes towards contraception were associated with lower concordance. Findings highlight the importance of using couple-level data to estimate contraceptive prevalence, the role of education programs to inculcate positive attitudes towards contraception, fostering gender equality, and involving men into family planning efforts.

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 Presented in Session 1. Fertility, Family Planning, Sexual Behavior, & Reproductive Health 1