Abstract
Background
Low levels of women’s decision-making over control of sexual intercourse, contraceptive use, domestic violence with intimate partners not only have impact on socioeconomic and cultural aspects but also on unintended pregnancies. Which create serious public health issues associated with physical, reproductive and mental health consequences. This study explores associations between domestic violence, maternity and sociodemographic characteristics with unintended pregnancies
Methods
Total 32428 married women aged between 15-49 years, who responded on current pregnancy wanted were observed in NFHS-IV (2015-16) survey data. Out of these, 3,842 found eligible for this study. Logistic regressions used for analysis using SPSS23 software.
Results
Mean age of 3,842 women respondents were 25.27 ± 4.97 years. 12.3% of them were unintended pregnancies. Women aged between 25-34 years (OR = 1.21, 95% CI: 0.99-1.48) and 35-49 years (OR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.02-2.21) were more likely to have unintended pregnancy than 15–24 years. Working women were 7% (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.73-1.18) less likely to have unintended pregnancy than not working. Women never used contraception were 1.4 times more likely to have unintended pregnancy. Ever face domestic violence were 1.71 times (OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.40-2.10) more likely to have unwanted pregnancy.
Conclusions
Sociodemographic disparities need to be addressed to promote reproductive health and welfare services. Preventing physical violence by intimate partners against women, could reduce unintended pregnancy.
Key messages
Improving women’s status through educational and occupational initiatives could contribute to reducing physical violence and incidence of unintended pregnancies
Domestic violence: a hidden barrier to contraceptive use among women in Nigeria