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A dyadic approach to the study of perceived infertility and contraceptive use

Ester Lazzari, Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital
Edith E. Gray, Australian National University

There is an increasing literature on women’s perception of infertility and contraceptive use, with many studies showing that it is related to unintended pregnancy. Little research investigates the correlates of perceived infertility, and quantitative investigation of couple-level perceived infertility appears absent from the literature, which is somewhat surprising, as infertility is a couple-level outcome. This is the first paper to explore factors associated with perceived infertility using dyads rather than individuals as the unit of analysis and to investigate the relationship between perceived infertility and contraceptive use among a nationally representative sample of couples. The results indicate that men’s and women’s characteristics differently influence the likelihood of perceiving infertility and that the perception of infertility is a relevant reason why couples do not use contraception.

Keywords: Fertility and childbirth, Family demography, Life course analysis

See paper.

  Presented in Session 53. Correlates of Infertility and Assisted Reproduction