Women's socioeconomic status and choice of birth control method: an investigation for the case of Turkey

Karaoglan D., SARAÇOĞLU D. Ş.

JOURNAL OF BIOSOCIAL SCIENCE, vol.53, no.1, pp.137-156, 2021 (SSCI) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 53 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.1017/s0021932020000103
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF BIOSOCIAL SCIENCE
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, Anthropological Literature, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, EMBASE, Index Islamicus, MEDLINE, Psycinfo, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts, Veterinary Science Database
  • Page Numbers: pp.137-156
  • Keywords: Fertility, Contraceptive choice, Women&#8217, s socioeconomic status, CONTRACEPTIVE FAILURE RATES, LABOR-FORCE PARTICIPATION, FERTILITY, EDUCATION, DETERMINANTS, EMPLOYMENT, WITHDRAWAL, AUTONOMY, POSITION, BEHAVIOR
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study investigated whether woman's education, labour market status and the status within the household have any impact on their birth control behaviour in Turkey. Empirical analyses were implemented using the 2013 Demographic and Health Survey dataset, which includes information on women's socioeconomic status and their current choice of contraceptives: whether they used any method, and if so, what method they used. Using a bivariate probit model with selection to control for any possible selection bias, the results suggest that whether a woman uses any birth control method, and whether the woman chooses modern methods over traditional methods, are primarily explained by education level and urban/rural residence, and that the determinants of contraceptive use vary across college-educated and non-college-educated women. The results also indicate that non-employed women are less likely to use any birth control method compared with women with regular, full-time jobs. However the effect was statistically insignificant.