Is age difference between partners associated with contraceptive use among married couples in Nigeria?

The likelihood that women use contraceptives may be reduced when they are considerably younger than their husband, because such age differences are often accompanied by disparities in social position, resources and life experiences, which may make marital relationships inherently unequal.

Data from the 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey on 6,552 married couples in which the woman was aged 15-49 and the man was aged 15-59 were used to examine associations between partners' age difference and current contraceptive use. Associations were explored using multinomial logistic regression models that adjusted for women's and couples' characteristics. Separate analyses were conducted for couple methods (condoms, withdrawal and abstinence) and non-couple methods.

Ninety-eight percent of women were younger than their partner, and two-fifths were younger by 10 or more years. In bivariate analyses, women who were less than five years younger than their partner or were 5-9 years younger were more likely than those who were at least 10 years younger to be using a couple or non-couple contraceptive method (relative risk ratios, 1.4-2.2). However, these associations were no longer significant after adjustment for other characteristics. The measures that were most consistently related to use of couple and non-couple methods were education level, fertility intentions and household wealth.

Age differences between married partners are not associated with women's contraceptive use in Nigeria after adjustment for covariates. Further study is needed to understand this finding.