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Contraceptive method switching over women's reproductive careers: evidence from Malaysian life history data, 1940s–70s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2011

Julie Da Vanzo
Affiliation:
The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, USA
David Reboussin
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
Ellen Starbird
Affiliation:
The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, USA
Boon Ann Tan
Affiliation:
National Population and Family Development Board of Malaysia
S. Abdullah Hadi
Affiliation:
National Population and Family Development Board of Malaysia

Summary

Several new concepts are used to describe contraceptive use histories for nearly 1200 women in Peninsular Malaysia. These histories are summarized by 81 episode histories. Transition matrices provide useful summaries of the changes women make in their contraceptive practice from one pregnancy interval to the next. Data from the mid-1940s to mid-1970s, during which period there was a dramatic increase in contraceptive use, reveal considerable inertia in individual couples' contraceptive practice. Persistence with a method was greater the less effective the method: while 86% of couples using no method in one interval used no method in the next, only 56% of couples using the pill in one interval also used it in the next. Virtually all transitions are of three types: continuation with the same method, a change from no method to some method, or a change from some method to no method. For only 1% of all pregnancies did couples use one contraceptive method before a pregnancy and a different method after the pregnancy. Differences are examined by calendar year and education.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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