Mother-in-law's influence on daughter-in-law's reproductive behavior in rural Bangladesh.

摘要

While rural Bangladesh still maintains many traditional socio-Economic characteristics, modern contraceptives have been widely accepted by women of reproductive age for two decades. Matlab, Bangladesh, is a rural area with a significantly high rate of contraceptive use. Since the late 1970s, this area has had a successful intensive family planning program regulated by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B).;This research examined the influence of a mother-in-law, who traditionally has the ability to control her young daughter-in-law's behavior. Specifically, the influence of the mother-in-law on her daughter-in-law's current use of modern contraceptives was evaluated in the Matlab area. Five variables were examined, including the mother-in-law's attitude toward modern contraceptives, her experience with modern contraceptives, her preferred number of additional children by her daughter-in-law, her extra-familial relations, and her performance of household work.;Between 1995 and 1996, data collection was conducted in the Matlab treatment and comparison areas. In the treatment area, where modern contraceptive use was exceptionally high under the intensive Family planning program, information on 300 pairs of mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law was collected. In the comparison area, which was characterized by a less intensive family planning program and a lower rate of modern contraceptive use, information on 144 pairs was collected. The main strategies for collecting data were questionnaire interviews with those women, informal conversation with village people, and observations of village life. ICDDR,B's existing data were also used to supplement this information.;Probit analyses with maximum likelihood estimations were used to examine a mother-in-law's influence. It appears that a mother-in-law may have significant influence on her young daughter-in-law, particularly in the comparison area. These results suggest that inter-generational relationships may play an important role in determining the prevalence of modern contraceptive use in a traditional cultural setting.