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The objective of this study is to assess whether recent marital discussion on family planning is associated with contraceptive use among young couples residing in rural Maharashtra, India. The study methods used involved analysis of baseline data collected from 867 couples participating in the CHARM Family Planning evaluation trial. Participants were surveyed on demographics, contraceptive behaviour, and a six-item scale on marital discussions concerning family planning (including family size and contraceptive use) over the preceding six months. Multivariate logistic regression analysis assessed associations between marital family planning discussions and current modern contraceptive use for birth spacing, adjusting for demographics. The results revealed that 22.0 per cent of women reported current use of modern contraceptives for birth spacing. Nearly half (46.4 per cent) of women reported ‘high marital family planning discussion,’ based on a median split dichotomizing the scale as high or low. Women who reported ‘high discussion’ on family planning compared to those with ‘low discussion’ were seven times more likely to use modern contraceptives for birth spacing (45.4 per cent 9.8 per cent; adjusted odds ratio = 7.1, 95 per cent, confidence interval = 4.9 – 10.3). In conclusion, the findings support promotion of marital family planning counselling to improve contraceptive use among young rural married couples.

Published since 1986 by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Asia-Pacific Population Journal (APPJ) brings out high-quality, evidence-based and forward-looking articles on a wide range of population and development issues in Asia and the Pacific.

This issue of the Asia-Pacific Population Journal contains the following articles:

The Importance of Husbands’ Engagement in Family Planning Discussion to Promote Contraception Use for Birth Spacing in Rural India by Balaiah Donta, Saritha Nair, Niranjan Saggurti,
Mohan Ghule, Madhusudana Battala, Anindita Dasgupta, Velhal Gajanan, Jay Silverman, Anita Raj and Saritha Nair

The Cost of High Suicide Rates in Japan and the Republic of Korea: Reduced Life Expectancies by Elliot Oblander, Sojung Carol Park and Jean Lemaire

Socio-cultural Inequality in Women’s Health Service Utilization in Nepal by Prem Bhandari and Loritta Chan

The Extent of Female Unpaid Work in India: A Case of Rural Agricultural Households by Swati Dutta

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