The role of son preference on modern contraceptive use in Bangladesh

This study tries to examine the relationship between son preference and contraceptive use at different parities of women in Bangladesh. This study reveals that the sex composition of the surviving children moderately influences the women’s practices of modern contraceptive use at lower parities. The more sons a women has, she is more likely to use modern contraceptive at parity one and two. But this is not true for the women at parity three or more. At lower parities, this behavior may be primarily because women with at least one son among their living children are less likely to want more children and they are satisfied with the sex composition of their children. Among the women at parity three or more, contraceptive using rate is lower among them who have two or more son than those women who have one living son. This variation in contraceptive use at parity three or more may owe to have at least one daughter or not satisfied with the sex composition of children or lack of consciousness about family planning. Keyword: BDHS, modern contraceptive, parity, sex composition, son preference, trend.