Modern contraceptive methods use behaviour among young married women in Urban Ethiopia: a multilevel mixed-effects...

Based on the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey, low contraceptive utilization has been reported from young married women in Ethiopia, coupled with unmet reproductive health needs heightening the risk of unintended pregnancies and associated poor health outcomes. Consequently, this study was conducted to identify main determinants influencing contraceptive use among young married women in selected cities across Ethiopia.

A dataset comprising 680 young married women aged between 18 and 29 years was obtained from a secondary source, and collected between December 12, 2021 and January 03, 2022, across 13 selected cities. The data was analyzed using STATA version 18. A multilevel mixed-effects binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify individual-level determinants of contraceptive use while accounting for variability attributable to differences among cities.

At the time of data collection, 401 (59% CI: 55%-63%) young married women reported current contraceptive use. The most common utilized contraceptive methods were injectables (42%) and implants (35%). Significant variation in contraceptive use was observed across cities, with lowest contraceptive prevalence in Jigjiga (10%, CI = 3%-24%) and the highest in Hawassa (81%, CI = 70%-89%). Multilevel analysis identified several individual-level factors significantly associated with contraceptive use: having more than two family members (AOR = 3.3, 95% CI = 2.04-5.27), knowledge of contraceptive methods (AOR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.43-4.83) and exposure to radio broadcast (AOR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.13-2.32) were significantly associated with contraceptive use.

The study shows higher levels of contraceptive use among young married women in urban Ethiopia. Increasing radio listenership and improving contraceptive knowledge further enhance their contraceptive use behavior.