Social Change and Reproductive Behaviour in Rural Bangladesh, 1983-1996
type: CreativeWork
description: Recent changes in the reproductive behaviour of women m the rural areas of Bangladesh have occurred at a time when the country has been and still 1s predominantly agricultural and socio-economic conditions poor. Attempts to explain the causes of these changes, especially consideration of the role of family planning programmes, in such an unfavourable context, have generated enormous controversy among academics. This study examines the determinants of these recent reproductive changes in rural Bangladesh over a 13-year period. It uses quasi-experimental design based on comparison between three areas: national rural, Matlab intervention and Matlab control, using time series analysis of the repeated surveys. The changes were measured by two major proximate determinants: demand for additional children and trends in current contraceptive use. The outcome of these two factors, the fertility decline, was also analysed. The specific objective was to examine whether the family planning programme is a determinant of, or a mechanism towards, the changes m reproductive behaviour, and what role other micro and macro factors play in this. The major findings of the study show that the demand for no additional children was generated prior to the fertility decline among rural women of Bangladesh indicating a demand for fertility control. The family planning programme has helped to mitigate the demand for fertility control modifying supply logistics since the late 1970s. In terms of the determinants of reproductive change at the macro, macro and community level, this study documented that reproductive behaviour is strongly affected by biosocial and cultural factors related to macro level social structures existing at the community level. It is less strongly affected by social factors, and weakly affected by economic factors. However, the strong relationship between biosocial and cultural factors and reproductive behaviour changed over the period studied. In all three areas studied, y…
abstract: Recent changes in the reproductive behaviour of women m the rural areas of Bangladesh have occurred at a time when the country has been and still 1s predominantly agricultural and socio-economic conditions poor. Attempts to explain the causes of these changes, especially consideration of the role of family planning programmes, in such an unfavourable context, have generated enormous controversy among academics. This study examines the determinants of these recent reproductive changes in rural Bangladesh over a 13-year period. It uses quasi-experimental design based on comparison between three areas: national rural, Matlab intervention and Matlab control, using time series analysis of the repeated surveys. The changes were measured by two major proximate determinants: demand for additional children and trends in current contraceptive use. The outcome of these two factors, the fertility decline, was also analysed. The specific objective was to examine whether the family planning programme is a determinant of, or a mechanism towards, the changes m reproductive behaviour, and what role other micro and macro factors play in this. The major findings of the study show that the demand for no additional children was generated prior to the fertility decline among rural women of Bangladesh indicating a demand for fertility control. The family planning programme has helped to mitigate the demand for fertility control modifying supply logistics since the late 1970s. In terms of the determinants of reproductive change at the macro, macro and community level, this study documented that reproductive behaviour is strongly affected by biosocial and cultural factors related to macro level social structures existing at the community level. It is less strongly affected by social factors, and weakly affected by economic factors. However, the strong relationship between biosocial and cultural factors and reproductive behaviour changed over the period studied. In all three areas studied, y…
author: Nahar, Luftan
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/a822b0d2-3a91-4f8c-8fde-1854dbd64ff9/download
date published: 2003
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:38Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Waikato