Behavioural Contraception Methods and Urban Graduates: Summing Up the Evidence (original) (raw)

SpringerBriefs in Population Studies, 2016

Abstract

This chapter sums up our findings with respect to the following questions: What is the proportion of women relying on behavioural contraceptive methods in India? Has it changed over time? What is the socio-economic profile of users of behavioural methods in India? Is it true that it is the urban elite who rely on this method? Is use of such methods higher in certain regions, particularly in the state West Bengal? How reliable is this method in terms of controlling fertility? What explains the reliance on behavioural methods? Do couples rely solely on this method? Or do they combine methods? Further, does the method mix vary over the reproductive life cycle of women? Finally, our study also questions the mainstream approach to contraception choice. In large-scale surveys on reproductive health, the focus is on current and ever use of contraception, with the implicit assumption that the respondent uses a single method at a point of time. Actual contraception choice is more complex. Women may use not a single method, but combination of methods. Even this combination may change over time. Further, the choice of method or their combinations is determined by factors determining frequency and timing of intercourse, such as the stress of living in a globalized risk society, occupation, working habits, and sleeping patterns. We argue that incorporating these issues in large-scale surveys on reproductive health is a major challenge that policy makers and researchers must face in the coming decades.

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