Sexual autonomy and contraceptive use among women in Nigeria: findings from the Demographic and Health Survey data

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic, socioeconomic, reproductive and autonomy characteristics of women for 2013 and 2008 Nigeria DHS

Descriptive variables	2013 (n=27,274)	2008 (n=23,954)
Modern contraceptive use
Currently used	9.9	8.6
Currently not used	90.1	91.4
Age group (years)
15–24	22.8	24.1
25–34	38.5	39.0
35–49	38.7	36.9
Age, mean (SD) (years)	31.55 (8.9)	31.11 (8.8)
Respondent’s education
No education	45.9	51.3
Primary	20.4	21.3
Secondary or more	33.6	27.4
Type of place of residence
Urban	34.6	27.5
Rural	65.4	72.5
Wealth index
Poor	43.3	49.1
Middle	19.2	18.8
Rich	37.5	32.1
Religion
Christians	41.8	41.5
Muslims	56.7	55.8
Others	1.5	2.1
Experienced less severe violence
Yes	10.6	12.6
No	66.3	63.9
Experienced severe violence
Yes	4.2	4.6
No	72.7	71.9
Experienced any sexual violence
Yes	3.9	3.0
No	73.0	73.5
Can respondent refuse sex
Yes	62.0	56.3
No/not sure	37.7	39.3
Can respondent ask partner to use condom
Yes	38.2	32.1
No/not sure	61.5	56.5
Wife justified to ask use of condom if husband has STD
Yes	75.7	66.9
No	15.6	20.6
Role of respondent in own health care
Has role	39.8	42.2
Has no role	60.0	57.6
Decision on large household purchase
Has role	39.3	37.3
Has no role	60.5	62.5
Decision on visit to family or relatives
Respondent has role	48.7	53.8
Respondent has no role	51.1	45.9
Decision on how to spend husband’s earnings
Respondent has role	27.4	30.0
Respondent has no role	70.6	67.9

Abbreviations: DHS, Demographic and Health Surveys; STD, sexually transmitted disease.

Table 2 Distribution of women according to current use of modern contraception in the 2013 and 2008 NDHS

Descriptive variables	2013		2008
	Currently not used (P-value)	Currently used (P-value)	Currently not used (P-value)	Currently used (P-value)
Respondent’s education
No education	98.1 (0.000)	1.9 (0.000)	97.4 (0.000)	2.6 (0.000)
Primary	87.1 (0.000)	12.9 (0.000)	88.8 (0.000)	11.2 (0.000)
Secondary or more	81.0 (0.000)	19.0 (0.000)	82.0 (0.000)	18.0 (0.000)
Type of place of residence
Urban	83.2 (0.000)	16.8 (0.000)	84.5 (0.000)	15.5 (0.000)
Rural	93.7 (0.000)	6.3 (0.000)	93.9 (0.000)	6.1 (0.000)
Wealth index
Poor	97.6 (0.000)	2.4 (0.000)	96.8 (0.000)	3.2 (0.000)
Middle	90.6 (0.000)	9.4 (0.000)	92.2 (0.000)	7.8 (0.000)
Rich	81.1 (0.000)	18.9 (0.000)	82.5 (0.000)	17.5 (0.000)
Religion
Christians	82.6 (0.000)	17.4 (0.000)	85.0 (0.000)	15.0 (0.000)
Muslims	95.4 (0.000)	4.6 (0.000)	95.9 (0.000)	4.1 (0.000)
Others	95.7 (0.000)	4.3 (0.000)	94.2 (0.000)	5.8 (0.000)
Physical IPV
Low	89.9 (0.000)	10.1 (0.000)	90.4 (0.000)	9.6 (0.000)
High	82.7 (0.000)	17.3 (0.000)	86.5 (0.000)	13.5 (0.000)
Sexual IPV
Low	88.9 (0.939)	11.1 (0.939)	89.9 (0.432)	10.1 (0.437)
High	89.0 (0.979)	11.0 (0.939)	89.0 (0.470)	11.0 (0.432)
Household decision-making
Low	94.0 (0.000)	6.0 (0.000)	93.0 (0.000)	7.0 (0.000)
High	82.9 (0.000)	17.1 (0.000)	86.1 (0.000)	13.9 (0.000)
Sexual autonomy
Low	93.8 (0.000)	6.2 (0.000)	94.3 (0.000)	5.7 (0.000)
High	85.2 (0.000)	14.8 (0.000)	85.7 (0.000)	14.3 (0.000)

Note: P-values were computed for comparison across use of modern contraception for each subgroup of independent variables.

Abbreviations: NDHS, Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey; IPV, intimate partner violence.

Table 3 Odd ratios and 95% confidence interval of factors associated with modern contraceptive use (NDHS, 2013 and 2008)

Independent variables	Model 1*	Model 2**	Model 3***
	Odds ratio (95% confidence interval)	Odds ratio (95% confidence interval)	Odds ratio (95% confidence interval)
NDHS 2013
Sexual autonomy
Lowa	1.000		1.000
High	2.625 (2.363–2.916)		1.855 (1.663–2.068)
Women’s education
No educationa		1.000	1.000
Primary		7.473 (6.438–8.673)	6.577 (5.477–7.898)
Secondary or higher		11.783 (10.274–13.514)	9.372 (7.911–11.102)
NDHS 2008
Sexual autonomy
Lowa	1.000		1.000
High	2.771 (2.451–3.132)		1.776 (1.562–2.020)
Respondent’s education
No educationa		1.000	1.000
Primary		4.754 (4.128–5.475)	4.057 (3.374–4.879)
Secondary or higher		8.254 (7.262–9.380)	6.228 (5.251–7.387)

Notes:

a Reference category.

* Unadjusted model for sexual autonomy.

** Unadjusted model for education of women.

*** Model adjusted for education or sexual autonomy while considering the other variable.

Abbreviation: NDHS, Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey.

Table 4 Odd ratios and 95% confidence interval of factors associated with modern contraceptive use (NDHS, 2013, 2008)

Independent variables	Model 4* (2013)	Model 4** (2008)
	Odds ratio (95% confidence interval)	Odds ratio (95% confidence interval)
Experience of physical IPV
Lowa	1.000	1.000
High	1.442 (1.274–1.633)	1.251 (1.073–1.458)
Household decision-making
Lowa	1.000	1.000
High	1.688 (1.514–1.881)	1.322 (1.170–1.493)
Experience of sexual IPV
Lowa	1.000	1.000
High	1.063 (0.855–1.322)	0.995 (0.772–1.282)
Sexual autonomy
Lowa	1.000	1.000
High	1.813 (1.623–2.027)	1.583 (1.389–1.805)
Wealth index
Lowa	1.000	1.000
Medium	2.146 (1.769–2.603)	1.655 (1.358–2.018)
High	2.848 (2.351–3.451)	2.403 (1.983–2.911)
Religion
Christiansa	1.000	1.000
Muslim	0.667 (0.591–0.752)	0.614 (0.531–0.710)
Others	0.570 (0.331–0.979)	1.044 (0.637–1.710)
Place of residence
Urbana	1.000	1.000
Rural	0.759 (0.679–0.849)	0.724 (0.634–0.826)
Respondent’s education
No educationa	1.000	1.00
Primary	2.821 (2.304–3.453)	2.297 (1.876–2.813)
Secondary or higher	2.834 (2.310–3.476)	2.463 (1.997–3.037)

Notes:

a Reference category.

* Model adjusted for all other independent variables while considering the relation between use of modern contraception and one independent variable for the year 2013.

** Model adjusted for all other independent variables while considering the relation between use of modern contraception and one independent variable for the year 2008.

Abbreviation: NDHS, Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey.

Figure 1 Sexual decision-making and contraceptive use.

Figure 2 Sexual decision-making and contraceptive use with education as covariate.

Figure 3 Current use of modern contraception by education and sexual decision-making.