The Influence of Partners’ Sociodemographic Characteristics on Their Partner’s Fertility Desires and Concordance in Reported Contraceptive Use: Insights from Four Peri-Urban Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Adel Takruri, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Frank Taulo, University of Malawi
Roderick Larsen-Reindorf, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Frederick Makumbi, Makerere University
Michael Okunlola, University of Ibadan

This study examines the characteristics of each partner in a couple that influence their partner’s fertility desire and how these characteristics influence concordance and discordance in couple’s report of contraceptive use. Fertility desires, reports of contraceptive use, and socio-demographic characteristics of men and women were analyzed using four sites (Ghana, Ibadan, Malawi, and Uganda) in the Family Health and Wealth Study which was conducted in 2009/2010 in peri-urban regions in sub-Saharan Africa. Binary and multinomial logistic regressions were used to predict fertility desires and contraceptive use from socio-demographic characteristics. Parity was a strong predictor of fertility desires and contraceptive use in all sites. A person’s own and his/her partner’s age, education, and religion were significant in some site. Fertility desires are influenced by one’s own and partner’s socio-demographic characteristics. Couples’ discordant reporting of contraceptive use is occasionally associated with education and wealth.