When Do Nigerian Women of Reproductive Age Initiate and What Factors Influence Their Contraceptive Use? A Contextual Analysis

Figures & data

Table 1 Variables’ Selection and Measurement

Variable	Categories	Description
Outcome variables
Time (years) to uptake of contraceptive		This was calculated for respondents using the time difference between the year of first contraceptive use and age at first sexual intercourse. Non-users of contraceptives were censored and women who were yet to have sexual intercourse were removed.
Age at contraceptive initiation		This is the age of the woman when she initiated the use of contraceptive method to prevent getting pregnant.
Age at sexual debut		This is the age of the respondent at her first sexual intercourse.
Contraceptive use	Ever used anything to delay or avoid getting pregnant Currently use any contraceptive method Currently use modern contraceptive Currently use traditional contraceptive method	These categories were measured dichotomously (Yes/No) to determine the level of contraceptive utilization among women of reproductive age.
Explanatory variables
Age (years)	15–19/20-24/25–29/30–34/35–39/40–44/45–49	The current age of respondents were re-grouped in 5 year intervals.
Zone	North Central/North East/North West/South East/South South/South West	This is the geopolitical zones of origin of respondents. Nigeria has six geopolitical zones
Place of residence	Urban/Rural	Respondents were grouped by place of residence.
Religion	Catholic/Other Christian/Islam/Traditionalist/Other religion	The religious affiliations of respondents were categorized as prevalent in Nigeria.
Heard about family planning on radio	Yes/No	The prominent media of family planning information were measured dichotomously
Heard about family planning on television	Yes/No
Read about family planning in newspaper/magazine	Yes/No
Number of children ever born	Nil/1–2/3–4/>4	Total number of children ever born was used to measure fertility rate of respondents.
Ever given birth	Nulliparous/Parous	The parity of respondents was measured dichotomously on whether a woman had ever given birth or not.
Marital status	Never married/married	This variable describes the type of relationship of each respondent.
Highest level of school attended	No formal education/Primary/Secondary/Higher	Educational attainment was determined by the level completed
Not using contraceptive to limit or space childbirths		The variable: not using contraceptive to limit or space childbirths measured in binary form
Wealth index	Lowest (Poorest)/Lower (Poorer)/Middle/Higher (Richer)/Highest (Richest)	PMA2020 include questions about household assets including type of floor, roof, walls; source of water including open well, stream, or piped system; other assets including radio, fan, automobile, electricity, television, refrigerator, cooking fuel, furniture. Using these indicators, economic status was measured by computing a “wealth index” using principal component analysis. The factor loadings and z-scores were calculated. For each household, the indicator values were multiplied by the loadings and summed to produce the household’s wealth index value. The standardized z-score was used to disentangle the overall assigned scores to quintiles.

Table 2 Distribution of Women’s Characteristics

Variable	n (%)	Done Anything to Delay or Avoid Getting Pregnant		P-value
		Yes (%)	No (%)
Geopolitical zone				<0.001*
North Central	1853 (16.3)	28.6	71.4
North East	822 (7.2)	21.1	78.9
North West	4593 (40.4)	21.0	79.0
South East	1407 (12.4)	32.3	67.7
South South	1167 (10.3)	45.3	54.7
South West	1540 (13.5)	49.8	50.2
Place of residence				<0.001*
Urban	5334 (46.9)	38.2	61.8
Rural	6048 (53.1)	22.8	77.2
Wealth index				<0.001*
Lowest	3362 (29.6)	16.5	83.5
Lower	2666 (23.4)	28.5	71.5
Middle	1955 (17.2)	33.8	66.2
Higher	1752 (15.4)	40.8	59.3
Highest	1641 (14.4)	44.2	55.8
Heard about family planning on radio				<0.001*
Yes	6893 (60.7)	34.0	66.0
No	4471 (39.3)	23.9	76.1
Heard about family planning on television				<0.001*
Yes	4346 (38.3)	42.5	57.5
No	7017 (61.7)	22.3	77.7
Read about family planning in newspaper/magazine				<0.001*
Yes	2070 (18.2)	43.8	56.2
No	9277 (81.8)	27.0	73.0
Number of children ever born				<0.001*
Nil	3643 (32.0)	15.3	84.7
1-2	2591 (22.8)	31.1	68.9
3-4	2276 (20.0)	42.9	57.1
>4	2859 (25.2)	37.6	62.4
Ever given birth				<0.001*
Yes	7730 (68.0)	37.0	63.0
No	3646 (32.0)	15.2	84.8
Marital status				<0.001*
Never married	3194 (28.1)	18.5	81.5
Married	8184 (71.9)	34.5	65.5
Highest level of school attended				<0.001*
No formal education	2590 (22.8)	15.1	84.9
Primary	2135 (18.8)	29.1	70.9
Secondary	4957 (43.6)	32.3	67.7
Higher	1697 (14.9)	47.3	52.7
Age (years) of respondent				<0.001*
15–19	2417 (21.2)	7.0	93.0
20.24	2000 (17.6)	24.3	75.7
25–29	1995 (17.5)	36.4	63.6
30–34	1833 (16.1)	40.8	59.2
35–39	1409 (12.4)	44.4	55.6
40–44	967 (8.5)	41.0	59.0
45–49	761 (6.7)	7.8	6.2
Religion				<0.001*
Catholic	1566 (13.8)	35.1	64.9
Other Christian	4108 (36.2)	41.4	58.6
Islam	5449 (47.9)	19.9	80.1
Traditionalist	110 (1.0)	22.7	77.3
Other religion	122 (1.1)	39.3	60.7
Not limiting or spacing childbirths				<0.001*
No	9127 (80.3)	32.1	67.9
Yes	2242 (19.7)	21.7	78.3

Notes: P obtained using Chi-squared test; *significant at p<0.05.

Figure 1 Median years to FP initiation by geopolitical zone.

Figure 2 Median years to FP initiation by place of residence.

Figure 3 Median years to FP initiation by wealth index.

Figure 4 Median years to FP initiation and awareness through radio.

Figure 5 Median years to FP initiation and awareness through TV channel.

Figure 6 Median years to FP initiation by parity (ever given birth).

Figure 7 Median years to FP initiation and awareness through newspaper/magazine.

Figure 8 Median years to FP initiation by number of children ever born.

Figure 9 Median years to FP initiation by marital status.

Figure 10 Median years to FP initiation by educational level.

Figure 11 Median years to FP initiation by age (years).

Figure 12 Median years to FP initiation by unmet need.

Figure 13 Median years to FP initiation by religion.

Table 3 Factors Associated with Contraceptive Utilization Among Women of Reproductive Age

Variable	Adjusted OR	95% CI	P
Geopolitical zone
North Central	1.00
North East	0.80	0.64–0.99	0.044*
North West	0.82	0.71–0.94	0.006*
South East	0.53	0.44–0.65	<0.001*
South South	0.92	0.76–1.11	0.373
South West	0.98	0.82–1.18	0.862
Place of residence
Urban	1.00
Rural	0.74	0.65–0.84	<0.001*
Wealth index
Lowest	1.00
Lower	1.40	1.21–1.62	<0.001*
Middle	1.38	1.15–1.67	0.001*
Higher	1.59	1.29–1.95	<0.001*
Highest	1.66	1.33–2.07	<0.001*
Heard about family planning on radio
Yes	1.08	0.96–1.20	0.200
No	1.00
Heard about family planning on television
Yes	1.34	1.19–1.51	<0.001*
No	1.00
Read about family planning in newspaper/magazine
Yes	1.06	0.93–1.20	0.392
No	1.00
Ever given birth
Yes	3.73	3.08–4.51	<0.001*
No	1.00
Marital status
Never married	1.00
Married	0.76	0.63–0.93	0.007*
Highest level of school attended
No formal education	1.00
Primary	1.72	1.47–2.02	<0.001*
Secondary	1.99	1.68–2.36	<0.001*
Higher	2.09	1.70–2.57	<0.001*
Age (years) of respondent
15–19	1.00
20.24	3.34	2.72–4.11	<0.001*
25-29	4.84	3.89–6.02	<0.001*
30-34	5.10	4.06–6.40	<0.001*
35-39	5.47	4.31–6.93	<0.001*
40-44	4.98	3.87–6.41	<0.001*
45-49	3.53	2.70–4.61	<0.001*
Religion
Catholic	1.00
Other Christian	1.02	0.87–1.18	0.829
Islam	0.48	0.41–0.57	<0.001*
Traditionalist	0.75	0.45–1.23	0.259
Other religion	1.43	0.93–2.20	0.099
Total unmet need
No unmet need	1.00
Unmet need	0.45	0.40–0.51	<0.001*

Note: *Significant at p<0.05.

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.