Marriage decision making, spousal communication, and reproductive health among married youth in Pakistan

Figures & data

Table 1. Operational definitions

Variable	Definition
Marriage process involvement, gender, and mobility
Marital agency	Respondent reports question of who to marry was discussed, she was able to express an opinion, and she felt her opinion was listened to (three questions).
Respondent met husband prior to marriage	Respondent met or talked to her fiancé before marriage.
Respondent was related to husband prior to marriage	Husband was related to respondent’s family.
Role index	Respondent’s views on who should be responsible for household tasks (earning money, going outside to buy household goods, cleaning and washing, fetching water, cooking and feeding the family, helping kids with homework, taking care of sick inside home, taking sick to the hospital or doctor, and taking care of livestock).
Decision-making index	Respondent’s views on who should be responsible for decision making (spending household earnings, schooling of boys and girls, women working for an income, whether boys going abroad, marriage of children).
Mobility outside of home index	Respondent’s ability to travel with or without permission to neighbors, nearby shop, school, sports grounds, friends, relatives, fields inside/outside village, nearby community, and nearby health services.

Table 2. Characteristics of married Pakistani young women (15-24) (n = 1,803)

–	Percentage/Mean (range)
Background characteristics
Age
15–19	32.6
20–24	67.4
Years of education
0	68.3
1–5	16.4
6–10	12.5
11+	2.9
House asset index quartiles
1	32.1
2	22.7
3	23.6
4	21.6
Father received some education	26.5
Mother received some education	6.4
Mobility outside of home index	22.8 (1–30)
Role index	22.9 (13–27)
Decision making index	11.87 (5–15)
Marriage characteristics
Age at marriage	16.4 (10–24)
Duration of marriage	3.8 (0–16)
Spousal age difference
No difference	36.2
Husband 1–5 years older	33.9
Husband 6+ years older	29.9
Marital agency	11.5
Respondent met husband prior to marriage	26.8
Respondent was related to husband prior to marriage	52.4
Fertility and contraceptive use
Number of pregnancies	2.0 (0–9)
Number of live births	1.46 (0–8)
Currently using a modern contraceptive method	9.9
Discuss number of children with spouse	55.1
Agree on number of children with spouse	44.2
Time (months) between marriage and first contraceptive use	13.8 (0–13)
Intention to use contraceptives in future	910.0 (50.5%)

Table 3. Logistic regression model of agreement with spouse on number of children, intention to use contraceptives and current users among married, Pakistani young women (15-24)

Variable (reference group)	Agree on number of children with spouse Odds ratio (95% CI) N=1,803	Intention to use contraceptive in future Odds ratio (95% CI) N=1,729	Current contraceptive users Odds ration (95%CI) N=1,803
Background characteristics
Age (20–24 years)
15–19	1.14 (0.83–1.57)	1.42 (1.01–2.00)	0.98 (0.54–1.78)
Years of education (0)
1–5	1.19 (0.90–1.57)	1.57 (1.16–2.10)	1.66 (1.04–2.64)
6–10	1.21 (0.86–1.70)	1.38 (0.95–1.99)	1.89 (1.13–3.18)
11+	2.06 (1.04–4.08)	1.24 (0.59–2.61)	1.73 (0.65–4.60)
Household asset index quartiles (1)
2	0.96 (0.74–1.24)	1.18 (0.91–1.55)	1.30 (0.77–2.21)
3	1.09 (0.84–1.44)	1.70 (1.28–2.26)	2.08 (1.35–3.44)
4	1.25 (0.92–1.70)	1.69 (1.21–2.34)	2.94 (1.71–5.06)
Father received some education	1.27 (1.01–1.60)	1.13 (0.88–1.44)	1.54 (1.06–2.25)
Number of live births	1.18 (1.03–1.36)	1.26 (1.08–1.46)	3.18 (2.34–4.33)
Mobility outside of home index	1.0 (0.98–1.02)	0.97 (0.96–0.99)	0.97 (0.95–1.00)
Decision making index	0.93 (0.89–0.98)	0.93 (0.89–0.98)	0.95 (0.87–1.00)
Role index	0.99 (0.97–1.03)	0.97 (0.95–1.00)	0.98 (0.94–1.03)
Marriage characteristics
Age at marriage (Less than 15 years)
15–17 years	1.19 (0.89–1.60)	1.46 (1.07–1.99)	1.56 (0.93–2.64)
18–19 years	1.34 (0.90–1.90)	2.16 (1.41–3.29)	1.44 (0.71–2.92)
20–24 years	1.36 (0.81–2.28)	2.60 (1.49–4.54)	1.64 (0.69–3.92)
Duration of marriage (less than a year)
1 year	1.35 (0.91–1.98)	1.50 (1.00–2.23)	1.44 (0.93–2.25)
2–5 years	1.16 (0.79–1.68)	1.00 (0.68–1.49)	2.00 (1.27–3.16)
More than 5 years	1.24 (0.73–2.11)	0.78 (0.44–1.37)	1.63 (0.88–3.03)
Spousal age difference (no difference)
Husband 1–5 years older	1.11 (0.89–1.41)	0.98 (0.77–1.25)	1.49 (0.95–2.32)
Husband 6 years older	1.04 (0.82–1.34)	0.96 (0.74–1.25)	1.91 (1.24–2.97)
Marital agency	1.71 (1.25–2.34)	1.58 (1.13–2.21)	0.91 (0.55–1.52)
Significant results at p ≤ 0.05 in italics.

Table 4. Linear regression model of time between marriage and first contraceptive use among married Pakistani young women (15-24) (n = 1,451)

	Beta coefficient (95% SE)
Background characteristics
Age (20–24)
15–19	–0.24 (0.13)^*
Years of education	–0.14 (0.07)^*
Household asset index quartiles	–0.15 (0.52)^*
Number of live births	0.35 (0.05)^*
Decision making index	0.04 (0.03)
Marital agency	–0.05 (0.16)^*

* Significant results at p≤0.05 in italics.