Influence of media on contraceptive use: a cross-sectional study in four Asian countries

The most important factors contributing to poor state of maternal health continue to be early marriages, under-nutrition and high fertility rates in the context of low rates of contraceptive use. The aim of this study was to emphasize the influence of television on the contraceptive use in Asia.

Publicly available cross-sectional survey data from Survey of Status of Women and Fertility (SWAF) was used. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios and to adjust for covariates, i.e., age, education and income. SAS-9.2 was used for statistical analyses.

Television watching is associated with increased contraceptive use, both in men and women. In India, the adjusted odds ratios for condom use in males and females were 1.9 (95% CI 1.2-2.9, p = 0.003) and 1.8 (95% CI 1.1-2.9, p = 0.019) respectively. In Pakistan the adjusted odds ratios were significant in females for condom with odds ratios of 1.9 (95% CI 1.1-3.3, p = 0.02). In the Philippines the adjusted odds ratios for condom use were 1.6 (95% CI 1.01-2.46, p = 0.05) in females and 2.5 (95% CI 1.66-3.79, p < 0.0001) in males. In Thailand the adjusted odds ratios for condom use were 19.3 (95% CI 12.3-30.3, p < 0.0001) in males and 1.5 (95% CI 1.32-1.83, p < 0.0001) in females.

Along with other factors affecting human behaviour, media is a very useful tool to influence health behaviours like family planning, on a large scale.