Factors Influencing Number of Children among Married Women in Kurunegala District

Abstract

Family is the most basic unit of human society which is a collection of people bound together by relations specially with the children. The main objectives of this study were to identify the factors that determine the desire for another child by the family and examine the factors that affect the number of desired children in Kurunegala District. Three villages were selected as the study area from two Divisional secretariat divisions in the district, namely Narammla and Pannala. From the three villages, 124 married women who have the age range between 21 to 40 years old were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling method. Frequency of desire for another child shows that, 51.6% of the respondents preferred to have one more child and 48.4% of them do not prefer it. Further, chi – square analyses was tested to identify the association between the desire for another child with religion, race and residential place and its results revealed that, all these socio – economic characteristics have significantly associated with the desire for another child. Probit regression model was applied to identify the factors that determine the desire for another child whereas multiple linear regression was employed to examine the factors that determine the desired number of children. To estimate the above two models, socio – economic, demographic and cultural issues were considered as explanatory variables. Results of the probit model suggest that, preferences for one more child strongly and negatively influenced by number of children at present whereas it was positively influenced by religion, race, and age of the husband. Similarly, number of children at present, race, and family planning were identified as the main factors which are negatively influenced in determining the number of desired children in the family. The findings of the study may guide the stakeholders for making policy formulations to address in the context of fertility decisions.