Impact of perceptions about children and procreation on family-planning practices

Abstract

Objective: The present study looks at how family-planning (FP) practices might be influenced by perceptions about children and procreation. We hypothesised that adding the perceived value of children and procreation to Ajzen’s 1985 model would improve its predictive power. Method: Two hundred and seventy Nigerian women, 120 living in an urban area and 150 living in a rural area, answered a questionnaire about their use of FP. The questionnaire contained items assessing the variables found in Ajzen’s model (attitude, perceived control, subjective norms, intention) as well as items assessing perceptions about children and procreation. Results: The results confirmed that child-related perceptions improved predictions for both rural and urban women (improvements of 2.4% and 2.8%, respectively). They also had an effect on FP practices. More specifically, the more positive a woman’s perceptions of children, the less inclined she was to engage in FP. Conclusions: Recommendations are made in view of taking this variable into account in FP promotion programmes.

Keywords:

• family planning
• perceptions about children
• procreation
• theory of planned behaviour

Notes

1. The Akan, who live in southern Ghana and in the eastern and south-central parts of the Ivory Coast, are composed of several ethnic groups (Ashanti, Brong, Fanti, Nsima, Baoule, Agni, Attié, etc.).

2. Note that this scale originally had 13 items, but the items related to financial or spiritual considerations turned out to be relatively inconsistent with the overall scale, so they were discarded.

3. The taboo nature of sexuality means that sexuality in Nigerian culture is an issue it would be unseemly to mention by virtue of social or moral conventions, especially in the presence of an unfamiliar person.

4. To avoid the mode of data collection affecting our results, we controlled it by processing the data according to the method of collection. In addition, with the mode of responses being standardised at the level of scales (circle an answer), bias could be minus.

5. The four steps in this method consist of checking for (1) the effects of attitude, social norms, and perceived control on intention, (2) their direct effects on behaviour, (3) the effect of intention on behaviour, and (4) the effect of these variables taken together, with intention as the mediator.