Abstract

Objective: To determine the association between the contraceptive knowledge and use with the reduction in family size in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Sociology, University of Peshawar from March 2013 to June 2016. The data were collected from six communities; three each belonging to urban and rural localities in district Peshawar. A total of 384 respondents were interviewed from the households that had at least one reproductive age couple. Chi-square was applied to measure the association between dependent variable small family size.
Results: There was significant association of small family size with contraceptive use (p=0.000). Increased knowledge about the family planning motivated respondents to use contraceptives to decrease their family size (p=0.001). Contraceptive use was found further high among the educated couples (p=0.000) who also adopted contraceptives earlier than the illiterates’ respondents (p=0.000). Increased female empowerment in decision making was the other significant factor in contraceptive use (p=0.000).
Conclusion: A positive association between contraceptive use and decline in fertility was found due to increased awareness/knowledge about contraceptives. Female education and more say regarding decision making about contraceptive use was found.

Key words: Small family size, Fertility, Contraceptive use, Population control .