| Abstract |
Modelling the trends and patterns of contraceptive use have drawn great interests among researchers worldwide but the case is not so in Malaysia. This study models the relationship between contraceptive use and several socio-demographic factors that include age at first marriage, ethnic group, level of education, employment status, place of residence, and number of life birth, of married women in Malaysia. The objectives of this study are; to describe the trend of contraceptive behaviour according to socio-demographic factors that affect their decision in contraceptive practices and also to identify determinants of contraceptive use among married women in Malaysia. Based on the trend analysis, the study indicates that there is an increasing pattern of women delaying marriage. The general trend of contraceptive use also indicates that there have been changes in the behaviour of users according to selected socio-demographic characteristics across these surveys. Specifically, Malay women are more likely to practice family planning compared to Chinese and Indian women. The overall trend across ethnic group shows that Malay contraceptive users’ behaviour were in contrast with that of Chinese users in most aspects. Favourable contraceptive methods among Malaysian women were oral and traditional methods. Binary logistic regression was applied to identify the determinants of Malaysian women’s decision in birth control practice. Multinomial logistic regression was also applied to estimate the probability of favourable contraceptive method among these women in their contraceptive practice. Based on this study, it is found that among all selected socio-demographic characteristics, women’s employment had no significant effect on women’s decision in contraceptive practice and their choice of contraceptive method. This study has also discovered that women’s age, their age at first marriage, women’s desire to have more children, number of pregnancies, educational attainment, and ethnicity are determinants that significantly influence Malaysianwomen’s decision towards contraceptive practice and their choice of contraceptive method. |
