Family Planning Attitudes and Use in Nigeria: A Factor Analysis

Abstract

This study examined the association between family planning (FP) attitudes and contraceptive use in Nigeria. Data were obtained from a random sample of 927 married men and women stratified in urban areas by social class (elites mixed migrant working class and indigenous) who responded to a KAP survey conducted during 1992-93 in the capital city and a rural village in the states of Enugu Kano and Lagos. Over 67% were Ibos or Hausas; 25% were Yorubas. Around 75% of men and 59% of women had formal education. 76% knew a contraceptive method but only 28% were currently using contraception. 47% had ever used. Women were more likely than men to have ever used. Respondents were supportive of FP. Men were less positive about FP and marital relations than women. 20 factors were identified as relating to use. Three factors explained 53% of the variance in current contraceptive use: 1) the association of FP with health benefits; 2) the association of contraceptive use with conflict in the home; and 3) support for daughters completion of school before marriage. Logistic models reveal that contraceptive use was best predicted by education religion approval of FP mass media exposure spousal communication and approval of educating girls and women. For men the critical explanatory factors for adoption of contraception were religion and ethnicity.