CONTRACEPTIVE CHOICE IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

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This research examines the determinants of contraceptive choice in Nang Rong district, Thailand. Contraceptive choice (including the decision not to use a method at all) takes place within a relatively complex social world, with characteristics of individuals, couples, households, and communities all relevant. Because of data and methodological constraints, past work has not been able to proceed as far as desirable in modeling the full complexity of determinants which affect contraceptive choices. Using a rich longitudinal data set and adapting recently developed multivariate techniques, the proposed research will incorporate insights from demography, sociology, and economics to better understand the determinants of the contraceptive choice decision. Nang Rong district, Thailand serves as an interesting context in which to study contraceptive behavior. It is one of the least developed regions of Thailand and has been the focus of intense development activity recently. The expectation is that as the context changes, contraceptive behavior will change too. The multivariate analysis will use a sample of approximately 5,800 ever-married women aged 15 to 49 interviewed in 1984 and 1988 (to be completed by June 1988). These women reside in 50 villages, and rich community level data is available for each village for 1984 and 1988. In addition to multivariate analysis of this existing longitudinal data set, qualitative data collection is planned for the second year of the project. Several focus group sessions will be held in Nang Rong district, which will contribute to an improved specification of the multivariate model and a broader and deeper understanding of the results.