MENU

Gender Norms Regarding Contraception

Gender Norms Regarding Contraception uses 17 items consisting of the following two gender-equitable attitudes: attitudes towards couples’ family planning decisions (9 items) and attitudes towards family planning self-efficacy (8 items). Items are based on the Theory of Gender and Power (Connell, 1987) and have been used to examine the association between changes in gender norms and modern contraceptive use over time.

Categories

Geographies Tested: Nigeria

Populations Included: Female

Age Range: Adolescents, Adults

Items:

Attitudes towards couples’ family planning decisions
1. The husband should be the one to decide whether the couple should use a family planningbirth spacingchild spacing method
2. Couples who practice family planning have a better quality of life than those who do not
3. Husbands and wives should discuss family planning
4. Men should not allow their wives to use family planning
5. A woman who uses family planning without her husband’s knowledge should be punished
6. A woman who has no children is not completefulfilled
7. A man who has no children is not completefulfilled
8. A woman should continue bearing children until she has at least one son
9. A woman should continue bearing children until she has at least one daughter.

Response Options:
Items 1, 4-9:
Strongly disagreedisagree - 1
Any other response - 0
Items 2 and 3:
Strongly agreeagree - 1
Any other response - 0

Attitudes towards family planning self-efficacy
10. You could start a conversation with your partner about family planning
11. You could convince your partner that you should use a method of family planning
12. You could get to a place where family planning methods are offered if you decided to use one
13. You could obtain a family planning method if you decided to use one<br&gt14. You could use a family planning method even if your partner doesn’t want you to
15. You could use a method of family planning if none of your friends or neighbors uses one,
16. You could use a family planning method even if your religious leader did not think you should use one
17. You could continue to use a family planning method if you experience some side effects

Response Options:
Strongly agreeagree - 1
Strongly disagreedisagree - 0

Scoring Procedures

Attitudes towards couples’ family planning decisions: The dichotomized responses are summed to scores ranging from 0 to 9. The higher the score, the more gender-equitable the attitudes towards couples’ family planning decisions are.

Attitudes towards family planning self-efficacy: The dichotomized responses are summed to scores ranging from 0 to 8 with increasing score reflecting increasing family planning self-efficacy.

Original Citation

Okigbo, C. C., Speizer, I. S., Domino, M. E., Curtis, S. L., Halpern, C. T., & Fotso, J. C. (2018). Gender norms and modern contraceptive use in urban Nigeria: a multilevel longitudinal study. BMC Womens Health, 18(1), 178. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-018-0664-3


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

Join the EMERGE Community

to get the latest updates on new measures and guidance for survey researchers