Mistimed and unwanted fertility among rural women in Nigeria: the role of male domineering behaviour

Abstract

The patriarchal tradtions in most sub-saharan African countries provide a context that facilities an oppressive relationship where the husband establishes a pattern of unhealthy control over his wife. This paper examines whether rural women whose husbands exhibit domineering behaviour (DB) are more likely to have mistimed/unwanted births than those with no such behaviour. Data was extracted from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) of a weighted sample of 3422 ever married rural women. Nearly 64% of the women have husbands who exhibit 1 or more DBs. The prevalence of mistimed/unwanted fertility was nearly 10%. Results from binary logistics gression analysis showed that women whose husbands displayed at least three DB significantly had higher odds of having mistimed/unwanted births than women with two or less DB, even after adjusting for confounding variables (F(15, 751)= 13.58; p<0.01). The study concluded that male DB may influence fertility outcomes the same way gender-based violence associates with worse reproductive health outcomes. The study suggested an urgent need for evidence-based intervention based on an understanding of the link between DB and adverse birth outcomes of rural women in Nigeria.