Does Premarital Exposure to Messages about Family Size and Family Planning Methods Affect Contraceptive Use? A Study among Young, Married, Rural Women in Four Indian States

Sagri Singh, Johns Hopkins University
Laurie Zabin, Johns Hopkins University

Panel data from four Indian states are used to assess the association between premarital exposures to messages about family size and family planning methods before marriage with the timing of modern contraceptive use within marriage. Discrete hazards models were used to explore the effect of premarital exposure to messages and likelihood of modern method use at each parity level. Our results indicate that women’s exposure to family size information before marriage increases the likelihood of modern method use at each parity level assuming women reach that parity, adjusting for background factors. The strong effect of context (in this case state) both on the likelihood of contraceptive use at every parity level and as a moderating influence on individual characteristics is presented. This paper adds to the literature by assessing the influence of women’s premarital exposure on post-marriage experiences, and in doing so, applies a life course perspective to understanding the determinants of contraceptive use.