Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T13:07:18.864Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Determinants of current contraceptive use among Ghanaian women at the highest risk of pregnancy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, State University of New York, Potsdam College, Potsdam, New York

Summary

This study uses data from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) of 1988 to examine factors determining the continued low levels of contraceptive use in Ghana. The women currently using efficient contraception are those who have sexual intercourse regularly, who discuss family planning with their partner, whose husbands approve of the use of family planning, and who live in the northern sector of the country. The finding that husband's approval is an important determinant of efficient contraceptive use has significant policy implications for Ghana and other African countries, to motivate both husbands and wives to share fertility control responsibilities.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderton, D. L. & Bean, L. L. (1985) Birth spacing and fertility limitation: a behavioral analysis of a nineteenth century frontier population. Demography, 22, 169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Appiah, R. (1985) Knowledge and use of contraception. In: Demographic Patterns in Ghana: Evidence from the Ghana Fertility Survey 1979–80, pp. 97142. Edited by Singh, S., Owusu, J. Y. & Shah, I. H.. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Armar, A. A. (1983) The Ghana national family planning program. In: Views from Three Continents, pp. 102109. Management Contributions to Population Programs, Vol.3. International Committee on the Management of Population Programs, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Google Scholar
Beckman, L. J. (1983) Communication, power and the influence of social networks in couple decisions on fertility. In: Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries, Volume 2: Fertility Regulation and Institutional Influences, pp. 415443. Edited by Bulatao, R. A. & Lee, R. D.. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Bongaarts, J. (1983) The proximate determinants of natural marital fertility. In: Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries: A Summary of Knowledge. Edited by Bulatao, R. A. & Lee, R. D.. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Brody, E. B., Ottey, F. & LaGranade, J. (1976) Fertility-related behavior in Jamaica. In: Cultural Factors and Population in Developing Countries, pp. 1530. Occasional Monograph Series No. 6, ICP Work Agreement Reports. Interdiscipline Communications Program, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bulatao, R. A. (1984) Reducing Fertility in Developing Countries: A Review of Determinants and Policy Levers. World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bumpass, L. L. (1987) The risk of an unwanted birth: the changing context of contraceptive sterilization in the US. Popul. Stud. 41, 347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, M. T. (1984) Women's Status and Fertility in Developing Countries: Son Preference and Economic Security. Working Paper No. 110. Population Council, New York.Google Scholar
Caldwell, J. C. (1968) The control of family size in tropical Africa. Demography, 5, 598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, J. C. (1982) Theory of Fertility Decline. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Chaudhury, R. H. (1982) Social Aspects of Fertility, with Special Reference to Developing Countries. Vikas, New Delhi.Google Scholar
Cochrane, S. H. (1979) Fertility and Education: What do We Really Know?. World Bank Staff Occasional Papers, No. 26. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Davis, K. & Blake, J. (1956) Social structure and fertility: an analytical framework. Econ. Dev. cult. Change, 4, 211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furstenberg, F. F., Brooks-Gunn, S. & Morgan, S. P. (1987) Adolescent Mothers in Later Life. Cambridge University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gaisie, S. K. (1969) Dynamics of Population Growth in Ghana. Ghana Publishing Corporation, Accra-Tema.Google Scholar
Gaisie, S. K. (1971) The National Demographic Sample Survey, 1968–69, III. Legon, Accra.Google Scholar
Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) & Institute for Resource Development/Macro Systems (IRD) (1989) Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 1988. GSS and IRD, Columbia, Maryland.Google Scholar
Glenn, N. D. (1988) Cohort Analysis. Sage, Beverly Hills, California.Google Scholar
Goldscheider, C. & Mosher, W. D. (1988) Religious affiliation and contraceptive usage: changing American patterns, 1955–82. Stud. Fam. Plann. 19, 48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henn, J. K. (1989) Women in the rural economy: past, present, and future. In: African Women South of the Sahara. Edited by Hay, M. J. & Stichter, S.. Longman, New York.Google Scholar
International Planned Parenthood Federation (1984) Male Involvement in Family Planning. IPPF, London.Google Scholar
Joesoef, M. R., Baughman, A. L. & Utomo, B. (1988) Husband's approval of contraceptive use in metropolitan Indonesia: program implications. Stud. Fam. Plann. 19, 162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kar, S. B. & Talbot, J. M. (1980) Attitudinal and nonattitudinal determinants of contraception: a cross-cultural study. Stud. Fam. Plann. 11, 51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kasarda, J. D., Billy, J. O. G. & West, K. (1986) Status Enhancement and Fertility: Reproductive Responses to Social Mobility and Educational Opportunity. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knodel, J. (1987) Starting, stopping and spacing during the early stages of fertility transition: the experience of German village populations in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Demography, 24, 143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamptey, P., Nicholas, D. D., Ofosu-Amaah, S. & Lourie, I. M. (1978) An evaluation of male contraceptive acceptance in rural Ghana. Stud. Fam. Plann. 9, 222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGinn, T., Bamba, A. & Balma, M. (1989) Male knowledge, use and attitudes regarding family planning in Burkina Faso. Int. Fam. Plann. Perspect. 15, 84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Connell, M. & Rogers, C. C. (1984) Out-of-wedlock births, premarital pregnancies and their effect on family formation and dissolution. Fam. Plann. Perspect. 16, 157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oheneba-Sakyi, Y. (1989) Cohort shifts in the timing of births in Ghana. Sociol. Perspect. 32, 485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oheneba-Sakyi, Y. (1990) Socio-economic and cultural differentials in contraceptive usage among Ghanaian women. Int. J. Sociol. Fam. 20, 139.Google ScholarPubMed
O'Laughlin, B. (1974) Mediation of contradiction: why Mbum women do not eat chicken. In: Women, Culture, and Society, pp. 301318. Edited by Rosaldo, M. & Lamphere, L.. Stanford University Press, California.Google Scholar
Olusanya, P. O. (1971) Status differentials in the fertility attitudes of married women in two communities in western Nigeria. Econ. Dev. cult. Change, 19, 641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppong, C. (1981) Middle Class African Marriage. Allen & Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Owusu, J. Y. (1984) Evaluation of the Ghana Fertility Survey 1979–80. World Fertility Survey Scientific Reports, No. 69. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Owusu, J. Y. & Singh, S. (1985) Introduction. In: Demographic Patterns in Ghana: Evidence from the Ghana Fertility Survey 1979–80, pp. 115. Edited by Singh, S., Owusu, J. Y. & Shah, I. H.. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Pool, I. D. (1967) Ghana: a survey on fertility and attitudes toward family limitation. Stud. Fam. Plann. 25, 10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Population Reference Bureau (1991) World Population Data Sheet. Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Rindfuss, R. R. & Morgan, S. P. (1983) Marriage, sex, and the first birth interval: the quiet revolution in Asia. Popul. Dev. Rev. 36, 259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryder, N. B. (1965) The cohort as a concept in the study of social change. Am. sociol. Rev. 30, 843.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shah, N. M. (1974) The role of interspousal communication in adoption of family planning methods: a couple approach. Pakistan Dev. Rev. 13, 454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stephen, E. H., Rindfuss, R. R. & Bean, F. D. (1988) Racial differences in contraceptive choice: complexity and implications. Demography, 25, 53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsui, A. O. (1985) The rise of modern contraception. In: Reproductive Change in Developing Countries, pp. 115138. Edited by Cleland, J. & Hobcraft, J.. Oxford University Press, London.Google Scholar
Weatherby, J. et al. (1987) The Other World: Issues and Politics in the Third World. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Westoff, C. F., Hammerslough, C. R. & Paul, L. (1987) The potential impact of improvements in contraception on fertility and abortion in western countries. Eur. J. Popul. 3, 7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yaukey, D. (1961) Fertility Differences in a Modernizing Society. Princeton University Press, Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelnik, M. & Kantner, J. F. (1980) Sexual activity, contraceptive use and pregnancy among metropolitan-area teenagers: 1971–1979. Fam. Plann. Perspect. 12, 230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed