Socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south Asian countries: a decomposition analysis

Abstract Background Contraceptive knowledge and use has been an emerging topic of interest in adolescents in Asia. This study quantified the contribution of the socioeconomic determinants of inequality in contraceptive use among currently married female adolescents (15–24) in four south Asian countr...

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Main Authors: Himani Sharma, Shri Kant Singh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2022-05-01
Series:BMC Women's Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-022-01736-8
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author Himani Sharma
Shri Kant Singh
author_facet Himani Sharma
Shri Kant Singh
author_sort Himani Sharma
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Contraceptive knowledge and use has been an emerging topic of interest in adolescents in Asia. This study quantified the contribution of the socioeconomic determinants of inequality in contraceptive use among currently married female adolescents (15–24) in four south Asian countries: India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. Data and methods The data of Demographic Health Survey (DHS) for four South Asian countries, i.e. India (NFHS 2015–16), Nepal (DHS 2016), Bangladesh (DHS 2014) and Pakistan (DHS 2012–2013) has been used for examining the contraceptive use and inherent socioeconomic inequality. After employing logistic regression, concentration curves based on decomposition analysis have been made to analyse the socioeconomic inequality. Results The results reveal that the use of contraception among female adolescents remains low and factors like education, employment, having one or more children, media exposure were positively associated with it. In terms of socioeconomic inequality, a significant amount of variation has been observed across the countries. In India, poor economic status (95.23%), illiteracy (51.29%) and rural residence (23.06%) contributed maximum in explaining the socioeconomic inequality in contraceptive use among female adolescents. For Bangladesh, the largest contributors to inequalities were rural residence (260%), illiteracy (146.67%) while birth order 3 + (− 173.33%) contributed negatively. Illiteracy (50%), poor economic status (47.83%) and rural residence (16.30%) contributed maximum to the inequalities in contraceptive use in Pakistan while birth order 3 + (− 9.78%) contributed negatively. In Nepal, the important operators of inequalities were unemployment (105.26%), birth order 3 + (52.63%) and poor economic status (47.37%), while rural residence contributed negatively (− 63.16%) to inequalities in contraceptive use. Conclusions Using a cross country perspective, this study presents an socioeconomic inequality analysis in contraceptive use and the important factors involved in the same. Since the factors contributing to inequalities in contraceptive use vary across countries, there is a need to imply country-specific initiatives which will look after the special needs of this age-group.
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spelling doaj.art-af13d25282da4f96882f4b6a51f970222022-12-22T02:30:00ZengBMCBMC Women's Health1472-68742022-05-0122111510.1186/s12905-022-01736-8Socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south Asian countries: a decomposition analysisHimani Sharma0Shri Kant Singh1Department of Mathematical Demography and Statistics, International Institute for Population StudiesDepartment of Mathematical Demography and Statistics, International Institute for Population StudiesAbstract Background Contraceptive knowledge and use has been an emerging topic of interest in adolescents in Asia. This study quantified the contribution of the socioeconomic determinants of inequality in contraceptive use among currently married female adolescents (15–24) in four south Asian countries: India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. Data and methods The data of Demographic Health Survey (DHS) for four South Asian countries, i.e. India (NFHS 2015–16), Nepal (DHS 2016), Bangladesh (DHS 2014) and Pakistan (DHS 2012–2013) has been used for examining the contraceptive use and inherent socioeconomic inequality. After employing logistic regression, concentration curves based on decomposition analysis have been made to analyse the socioeconomic inequality. Results The results reveal that the use of contraception among female adolescents remains low and factors like education, employment, having one or more children, media exposure were positively associated with it. In terms of socioeconomic inequality, a significant amount of variation has been observed across the countries. In India, poor economic status (95.23%), illiteracy (51.29%) and rural residence (23.06%) contributed maximum in explaining the socioeconomic inequality in contraceptive use among female adolescents. For Bangladesh, the largest contributors to inequalities were rural residence (260%), illiteracy (146.67%) while birth order 3 + (− 173.33%) contributed negatively. Illiteracy (50%), poor economic status (47.83%) and rural residence (16.30%) contributed maximum to the inequalities in contraceptive use in Pakistan while birth order 3 + (− 9.78%) contributed negatively. In Nepal, the important operators of inequalities were unemployment (105.26%), birth order 3 + (52.63%) and poor economic status (47.37%), while rural residence contributed negatively (− 63.16%) to inequalities in contraceptive use. Conclusions Using a cross country perspective, this study presents an socioeconomic inequality analysis in contraceptive use and the important factors involved in the same. Since the factors contributing to inequalities in contraceptive use vary across countries, there is a need to imply country-specific initiatives which will look after the special needs of this age-group.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-022-01736-8South AsiaInequalityContraceptiveAdolescentsContraception
spellingShingle Himani Sharma
Shri Kant Singh
Socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south Asian countries: a decomposition analysis
BMC Women's Health
South Asia
Inequality
Contraceptive
Adolescents
Contraception
title Socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south Asian countries: a decomposition analysis
title_full Socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south Asian countries: a decomposition analysis
title_fullStr Socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south Asian countries: a decomposition analysis
title_full_unstemmed Socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south Asian countries: a decomposition analysis
title_short Socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south Asian countries: a decomposition analysis
title_sort socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use among female adolescents in south asian countries a decomposition analysis
topic South Asia
Inequality
Contraceptive
Adolescents
Contraception
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-022-01736-8
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