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Covert contraceptive use: prevalence, motivations, and consequences
1Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, USA.
Studies in Family Planning
|January 27, 1999
Summary
Women sometimes use contraceptives without their husbands' knowledge, a practice more common when overall contraceptive use is low. Difficult communication between spouses is the primary driver of this covert contraceptive use.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Health
- Sociology
- Family Planning
Background:
- Covert contraceptive use, defined as using contraception without a spouse's knowledge, is a significant aspect of reproductive health.
- Understanding the prevalence and determinants of covert contraceptive use is crucial for effective family planning programs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the measurement, prevalence, and underlying factors of women's covert contraceptive use.
- To analyze the relationship between spousal communication, spousal disapproval, and pronatalism on covert contraceptive use.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of existing studies combined with survey and qualitative data from married women and their husbands in urban Zambia (1997).
- Multivariate analysis to identify determinants of covert contraceptive use.
Main Results:
- Covert contraceptive use accounts for 6-20% of all current contraceptive use, increasing as overall prevalence decreases.
- Difficult spousal communication about contraception is the strongest predictor of covert use.
- Husbands' disapproval influences covert use indirectly through communication, not directly; pronatalism has no significant effect.
Conclusions:
- Covert contraceptive use has important implications for reproductive health and family planning services.
- There is a need for confidential contraceptive services to meet the needs of both women and men.
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