THE CONSISTENCY AND VALIDITY OF REPRODUCTIVE ATTITUDES - EVIDENCE FROM MOROCCO

Information on reproductive attitudes is now routinely collected in fe rtility surveys in developing countries, and has become very important for understanding fertility behaviour. The quality of this informatio n, however, is rarely assessed, partly due to lack of necessary data. In this paper, the recently completed panel survey in Morocco by the D emographic and Health Surveys (DHS) was used to investigate the consis tency of reporting of ideal number of children, reproductive intention s and the planning status of the last birth. The validity of reproduct ive intentions for subsequent fertility behaviour was also examined. T he findings indicate that the three measures of reproductive attitudes are subject to different degrees of measurement error. The measure of reproductive intentions is the most consistent of the three, followed by ideal number of children. The latter is much more consistent at th e aggregate level than at the individual level. The reliability of the planning status of the last birth is marred, mainly by an unwanted ch ild being reclassified as 'wanted' with time since the birth of the ch ild. The reproductive intentions of women were also found to be positi vely related to their subsequent fertility.