Ineffective contraceptive use and its causes in a natural fertility population in southern Jordan

Based on our interview survey of 574 randomly selected married women from a rural population in the South Ghor district, Jordan, where traditional Arab customs have been persistently maintained, in this paper we analyze the age-specific marital fertility rates (ASMFRs) and contraceptive practices, especially the prevalence and duration of contraceptive use. The ASMFRs fitted the natural fertility pattern proposed by Coale and Trussell's model, and the total fertility rate was estimated to be 7.2. Even though the prevalence rate of modern contraceptive methods has reached 14.3%, because of the recent increase among young women in particular, the users had larger numbers of children than the nonusers and the duration of contraceptive use was short, especially at young ages (e.g., about 90% 24-month discontinuation probabilities in 15-19- and 20-24-year-olds). These ineffective contraceptive uses were related to traditional Arab norms, represented by the pooled proportion of "as many as possible" and "up to God" answers to the ideal number of children (70% of men and 30% of women).