Effect of Gender Preference of Offspring on Contraceptive Use among Married Women in Urban Areas of Belagavi – A Cross Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: Gender preference has been one of the barrier in the use of contraceptives since ages, it may be either male or female gender preference. Even though this is known fact but still it is not adequately investigated. Objective: To study the association between gender preference and prevalence of contraceptive use in urban areas. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in three urban areas of Belagavi. Data was collected using predesigned and pretested questionnaire and analysed using SPSS version 21.0.Results: In this study 47.3% of the women had gender preference, among them 31.3%of the women had preference towards male child and 16.0% of the women had preference towards female child. The gender preference of offspring was significantly (p< 0.001) associated with prevalence of contraceptive use. Conclusion: The findings support the contention that there is still a need to intensify Information Education Communication activities and motivate the population to adopt small family norm by practicing contraception and promote the virtue of gender equality among them.