Examining the association between men's gender equitable attitudes and contraceptive outcomes in rural Maharashtra, India

Mohan Ghule; Anvita Dixit; Nicole E Johns; Madhusudana Battala; Shahina Begum; Sarah Averbach; Jay G Silverman; Niranjan Saggurti; Anita Raj

doi:10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100168

Examining the association between men's gender equitable attitudes and contraceptive outcomes in rural Maharashtra, India

Dialogues Health. 2024 Jan 20:4:100168. doi: 10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100168. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Mohan Ghule¹, Anvita Dixit^{1

2}, Nicole E Johns¹, Madhusudana Battala³, Shahina Begum⁴, Sarah Averbach^{1

5}, Jay G Silverman¹, Niranjan Saggurti³, Anita Raj⁶

Affiliations

¹ Center on Gender Equity and Health, Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, USA.
² Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health (Global Health track), University of California San Diego/San Diego State University, USA.
³ Population Council, New Delhi, India.
⁴ ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive and Child Health, Mumbai, India.
⁵ Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, USA.
⁶ Newcomb Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA.

Abstract

Background: Previous literature suggests that men reporting more gender-equitable attitudes are more likely to use condoms, but there is a paucity of data evaluating whether these attitudes are associated with contraceptive communication and use. The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that men reporting more gender-equitable attitudes will be more likely to (a) engage in contraceptive communication with their wives and (b) that they and/or their wives will be more likely to use all forms of family planning, compared to men with less equitable attitudes.

Methods: Using cross-sectional dyadic survey data from young married couples from rural Maharashtra, India (N = 989), we assessed the associations between men's gender role attitudes and a) spousal contraceptive communication and b) contraceptive use by type (none, traditional, condoms, pills, or IUD). The contraceptive use outcome is based on wives' report. We assessed these associations via bivariate t-test (communication outcome) or ANOVA test (contraceptive type outcome), as well as unadjusted and adjusted logistic (communication outcome) and multinomial logistic (contraceptive type outcome) regression models. Adjusted models included sociodemographic factors selected a priori based on established associations with gender-equitable attitudes and/or our assessed outcomes.

Findings: Men with more gender-equitable attitudes were more likely to discuss family planning with their wives (AOR = 1·05, 95%CI 1·03-1·07, p < 0·001) and to use condoms (ARRR = 1·03, 95%CI 1·00-1·06, p = 0·07). There was no association between gender-equitable attitudes and use of other types of contraception.

Interpretation: While gender-equitable attitudes among men may facilitate condom use and family planning communication in marriage, they do not appear to be linked with greater likelihood of use of more effective types of contraceptive use. This suggests that males supportive of gender equity may take greater responsibility for family planning vis a vis a less effective contraceptive, condoms, in the absence of more effective short-acting contraceptives for men.

Funding: The National Institutes of Health [Grant number 5R01HD084453-01A1] and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number INV-002967].

Keywords: Contraceptive communication; Family planning; Gender attitudes; Gender-equitable men scale; Male engagement.