Marriage structure and contraception in Niger

Analysis of the 1992 Niger Demographic and Health Survey showed that althou gh roughly two-thirds of both polygamous and monogamous women approve of bi rth control, polygamous wives are less likely than monogamous wives to disc uss family size or birth control with their husband or to plan on using bir th control. The study suggests that characteristics of polygamous couples h ave caused polygamous women to be more resistant to birth control use than monogamous women. The polygamous women tended to be married to older men wh o had not gone to primary school and who desired more children than monogam ous husbands. The influence of marital structure is not significantly assoc iated with intention to use birth control when the husband's age and the wi fe's ideal number of children were controlled for in the multivariate logis tic regression model suggesting that background social factors may be more influential. In fact, educational level and age at first marriage were sign ificantly associated with attitudes towards birth control and also with mar ital structure.