Socioeconomic Factors and Reproductive Health

This study included several socioeconomic and demographic variables that have been theoretically and empirically linked to IPV [20 (link),38 (link)] and the utilization of reproductive health care services [8 (link),10 (link)-12 (link)]. Participants’ age was categorized as follows: 15–24, 25–34, and 35–49 years of age. The women’s and husband’s educational level was defined in terms of the formal education system of Bangladesh: no education (0 year), primary (1–5 years), or secondary or higher (6 years or more). To assess women’s decision-making autonomy, this study determined the number of types of family decisions a woman made alone or jointly, including whether to obtain health care for herself, to obtain health care for her child, to make large purchases, to make household purchases, and to visit her relatives [11 (link)].
Maternal occupation was classified according to whether the woman was working or not. Place of residence was categorized as rural versus urban. Religion was categorized as Muslim or non-Muslim. This study classified frequency of mass media exposure, which was found to be a strong predictor of reproductive health service utilization in developing countries into three categories: regular, irregular, or not at all [11 (link),39 (link)]. Tertiles were used to classify parity and the total number of household members. A dichotomous variable was created to measure pregnancy intentions for the last birth (intended: live birth wanted at time of conception or unintended: live birth wanted after conception or not wanted at all). The BDHS wealth index was used as a proxy indicator of socioeconomic position and each household was assigned to the poorest, middle, or richest tertile.