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.