Bargaining power within couples and use of prenatal and delivery care in Indonesia

Stud Fam Plann. 2001 Jun;32(2):130-46. doi: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2001.00130.x.

Abstract

Indonesian women's power relative to that of their husbands is examined to determine how it affects use of prenatal and delivery care. Holding household resources constant, a woman's control over economic resources affects the couple's decision-making. Compared with a woman with no assets that she perceives as being her own, a woman with some share of household assets influences reproductive health decisions. Evidence suggests that her influence on service use also varies if a woman is better educated than her husband, comes from a background of higher social status than her husband's, or if her father is better educated than her father-in-law. Therefore, both economic and social dimensions of the distribution of power between spouses influence use of services, and conceptualizing power as multidimensional is useful for understanding couples' behavior.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Decision Making*
  • Delivery, Obstetric / methods
  • Delivery, Obstetric / statistics & numerical data*
  • Educational Status
  • Female
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Humans
  • Income
  • Indonesia
  • Internal-External Control
  • Male
  • Marriage / psychology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Negotiating / psychology*
  • Ownership / statistics & numerical data
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / psychology*
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / statistics & numerical data
  • Power, Psychological*
  • Prenatal Care / statistics & numerical data*
  • Residence Characteristics / statistics & numerical data
  • Social Class
  • Spouses / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Women's Rights*