Is unintended birth associated with physical intimate partner violence? Evidence from India

A growing number of studies have tested the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and the unintendedness of pregnancy or birth, and most have suggested that unintendedness of pregnancy is a cause of IPV. However, about nine in every ten women face violence after delivering their first baby. This study examined the effects of the intendedness of births on physical IPV using data from the National Family Health Survey (2015–16). The multivariate logistic regression model analysis found that, compared with women with no unwanted births (2.9%), physical IPV was higher among those women who had unwanted births (6.9%, p<0.001), followed by those who had mistimed births (4.4 %, p<0.001), even after adjusting for several women’s individual and socioeconomic characteristics. Thus, the reduction of women with mistimed and unwanted births could reduce physical IPV in India. The study highlights the unfinished agenda of family planning in the country and argues for the need to integrate family planning and Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health Care (RMNCH) services to yield multi-sectoral outcomes, including the elimination of IPV.

Unfit by Accident: Third-Party Perception of Parental Fitness Based on Childbearing Intention

Prior research has examined the impact of unintended birth on parent and child welfare. The present studies examine another potential consequence: namely, how third-party observers react to information about parenthood intention. We examine whether the act of having intended (or not) to become a parent affects people’s impressions of (1) what type of caregiver the (un)intended parent will be, (2) the type of relationship the (un)intended parent will have with the child, and (3) potential outcomes for that family. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that people award less custody to accidental mothers and fathers because lack of intention during birth is perceived as decreasing parental quality and closeness between parent and child. Study 3 tests potential moderators of this effect including parenthood status and controllability, highlighting the potential negative consequences of this phenomenon for families in child custody disputes where third-party judgments are especially likely to bear weight.

Unintended Birth and Children’s Long-term Mental Health

Research has examined the proximate effects of unintended birth on infants and young children, but we know relatively little about the longer-term effects. Given that unintended birth is associated with several childhood risk factors, it might set the stage for poor mental health in adulthood. Drawing on rich intergenerational survey data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 ( N = 3,742), this study used a variety of statistical techniques to examine whether maternal pregnancy intentions are associated with children’s depressive symptoms during early adulthood. Results from ordinary least squares regression suggest that children resulting from unintended pregnancies experienced more depressive symptoms in their 20s than children resulting from intended pregnancies, controlling for a host of characteristics. Results from propensity-weighted and sibling fixed-effects models suggest that there is little to no causal relationship, however. Much of the initial association between maternal fertility intentions and children’s depressive symptoms is attributed to the mother’s sociodemographic characteristics.

Maternal Health Care Service Utilization and Its Role in Postpartum Family Planning Use in Nepal

Family planning and maternal health care programme has been initiated in an integrated approach for a long time in Nepal. However, the use status of family planning method could not be presented at good instance. The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 1994 and later millennium development goal 2002, both paved the way out for the situation mostly in the developing countries. Nepal also has made some changes in its services aiming to reduce high maternal mortality and promote to use family planning method. Use of family planning method within 12 months after childbirth could be a right solution for many developing countries like Nepal having high unintended birth. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the role of maternal health care service utilization in initiating use of family planning method after post-partum period. Women’s data file from Nepal Demographic Health Survey, 2011 has been used for the analysis. Bivariate and multivariate analysis result have revealed that the role of delivery care, controlling other variables seems to be much appreciable in getting family planning use within 12 months of delivery. Effects of some study variables besides delivery care remains unchanged in different models. Therefore, embracing family planning programme along with maternity care components would have implications towards - increasing current use of family planning, reducing the chances of unwanted/unintended birth, providing opportunities to control over female own body, contribution in achieving replacement level fertility and maintaining good health for both mother and the baby.