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Fertility limiting intention and contraceptive use among Indian men

Table 1. (Continued).
Background characteristics N Wanting more children (N=11,248) Not wanting more Child (N=36,918) P‑value
Northeast 5,573 30.4 69.6
West 5,522 18.4 81.6
South 6,005 22.1 77.9
Religious and cultural factors
Religion
Hindu 36,803 20.7 79.3
Muslim 6,430 27.5 72.5 0.000
Others or no religion 4,933 21.3 78.7
Caste
SCs/STs 16,849 22.0 78.0
OBCs 19,145 21.5 78.5 0.331
Others 9,668 20.8 79.2
Media exposure
No exposure 9,744 20.7 79.3
Any exposure 38,422 21.8 78.2 0.094
(1) P values are based on the Wald-Chi-square test from weighted bivariate logistic regression between each single factor and the outcome variable of fertility intention.
(2) SCs: Scheduled Castes; STs: Scheduled Tribes; OBCs: Other backward castes. (3) Percentage are weighted and numbers are unweighted. Cases may not be equal due to
missing values.

The results of multiple nested logistic regression analyses are presented in Table 2. In this table, four separate models
were applied. The results in Model I show that men in ages 30 s and 40 s were 1.55 times (=2.55-1) and 10.04 times
more associated with not wishing to have more children as compared to men in 20 s, respectively, which is expected
as young men have not had their expected numbers or sexes of children they wishes, while older men who likely have
already had desired numbers or sexes of children. These odds ratios were not altered when different other covariates
were controlled for. Compared to men with only on child, men with 2, 3, or 4+ children were associated with as much
as 8.06, 9.05, and 9.19 times odds of not wishing to have an additional child. These odds ratios were mildly enhanced
when other covariates were controlled for. Model I further reveals that men having no son were associated with 71%
(=1-0.29) lower odds of not wishing to have more children as compared men whose children were all sons, and the odds
ratio was robust across all models regardless of presence of other covariates. This may imply that there is son preference
or preference for having both sons and daughters among married men in contemporary India. Interestingly, compared to
men with children of all sons, men with children of equal sons and daughters and men with children of more daughters
than sons were associated with 40% (=1.40-1) and 34% higher odds of not wishing to have an additional child in
Model I. The odds ratio of wishing to stop having more children for men who had more sons than daughter could reach
2.06. The odds ratios for sex composition of children were slightly strengthened when other covariates were adjusted
for. These results indicate that compared to men who have both boys and girls, men with children of either all girls or
all boys are more likely to wish to have more children, implying that Indian men have strong preference for having both
sons and daughters.
The associations between intention of fertility stopping and other covariates are also noteworthy mentioning. For
individual SES factors, with an exception for the wealth quintile, the associations between fertility stopping intention
and education and occupation were relatively weak or not significant, especially when other sets of covariates
were further controlled for. For example, compared to men with no schooling, men with a primary and secondary
educational attainment were associated with 13-14% higher odds of not wishing to have one more children when
demographic and socio-economic factors were controlled for (Model II); however, when religious and caste factors
were further adjusted for, the odd ratios were reduced to non-significance (Models III and IV). One unexpected
finding was that there was no difference in fertility intention between men with no schooling and men with high
school or above, even when no religious and caste types and social media exposure were adjusted for. Except for
the professional category of occupation, no difference was found for other occupational categories in comparison
with jobless men. Men in agriculture were associated with 14% higher odds of not wishing to have more children as

6 International Journal of Population Studies | 2021, Volume 7, Issue 1