Adolescent contraceptive use and its effects on early marriage and fertility
(2017) International Population Conference (IPC) — Location: South Africa (29.October.2017)
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- Abstract
- Adolescent reproductive health and avoidance of child marriage are a key part of internationally agreed development goals. Adolescent contraceptive use, particularly by unmarried sexually active adolescents, improves adolescents’ well-being both by preventing early marriage and unintended pregnancy. Lack of access has long-lasting consequences including unsafe abortion, higher maternal and child mortality, reduced earnings potential and lower educational achievements. Paradoxically, measurement of contraceptive use and unmet need for contraception of adolescents has focused on women in-union leaving aside the sexually active unmarried population. This research explores the effects of contraceptive use of unmarried adolescent women in preventing early marriage and unintended pregnancy. Based on DHS data for 34 Latin American and African countries, we first show the large differences in demand for contraceptives and unmet need according to marital status, with much larger demand by unmarried sexually active adolescents. We estimate the effect of contraceptive use of unmarried women aged 15-19 on the probability of marriage and fertility by means of Linear Mixed Models with country-specific random effects. We simulate the effects of eliminating unmet need on adolescent fertility and marriage rates. Results demonstrate the importance of providing access to contraceptives to adolescents as a basic human rights’ and development policy.
- Affiliations
Universidad de Salamanca
Citations
Sanchez Paez, D., & Ortega, J. A. (2017). Adolescent contraceptive use and its effects on early marriage and fertility. International Population Conference (IPC), South Africa. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/234597