Factors influencing the practice of family planning among men in central and western provinces of Kenya

Abstract

The decline in Kenyan fertility is a reflection of the rise in contraceptive use. Central and Western provinces provide contrasting stages in the fertility transition which is influenced by various demographic, socio-economic, and cultural factors. The problem of this study concerns how these factors influence men's use of family planning. The general objective is to contribute to the knowledge of the significance of male involvement in family planning to population growth. The specific objectives are to examine the demographic, socio-economic, and cultural factors related to men's family planning practice. Quantitative data was obtained from the 1993 KDHS. The methods of analysis used were cross tabulation and multiple logistic regression. The findings generally confirmed that family planning knowledge was extremely high, but knowledge was not necessarily commensurate with contraceptive use. Cross tabulation analyses showed expected relationships between current contraceptive use (dependent variable) and most of the independent variables [age, education, residence, income, ideal and actual numbers of children]; all determined whether family planning was adopted or not. The logistic regression analyses showed that, in Western Province, the respondents' numbers of living children, ideal numbers of children, and income status were the most significant determinants of contraceptive use. In Central Province only respondents' ages and level of education were significant. The study concludes that the great differences between family planning knowledge and practice levels may not be as mysterious as is often supposed. It is significant that the best-known methods are also the most used. Therefore, in a sense, this gap is superficial.