Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T13:28:14.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE DELINKING OF SEX AND MARRIAGE: PATHWAYS TO FERTILITY AMONG YOUNG FILIPINO WOMEN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2016

Jessica D. Gipson  and
Andrew L. Hicks
Jessica D. Gipson*
Affiliation:
Department of Community Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Andrew L. Hicks
Affiliation:
California Center for Population Research, University of California, Los Angeles, USA Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
*
1 Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Partnership and fertility patterns of young Filipinos have changed dramatically from previous generations, with a widening gap between sexual initiation and marriage, and concurrent increases in teenage pregnancy and unwanted fertility. Further understanding of young adults’ social contexts and partnership patterns are needed to inform reproductive health programmes and policies affecting young Filipinos. Multivariate Poisson regression models were conducted with longitudinal and inter-generational data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (1998–2009) to examine the predictors of young women’s fertility. Age at first sex, and number and duration of partnerships each independently and significantly predicted women’s fertility by 2009 after controlling for contextual influences. Young women with more conservative attitudes towards dating, sex and marriage, and who perceived their mothers to have more conservative attitudes, had higher fertility than their peers, as did young women with mothers who reported more adolescent sexual behaviours. In contrast, fertility was lower among daughters who had higher levels of communication with their mothers. Given high levels of unintended fertility and teenage pregnancy in the Philippines, the findings indicate that the interval between sexual initiation and first and subsequent partnerships may be ideal intervention points for reproductive health services for young Filipinos.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , pp. 1 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adair, L., Gultiano, S. & Avila, J. (1998) The Philippines: childbearing, women’s work and household decision-making in Cebu. Summary of Final Report Prepared for The Women’s Studies Project Family Health International. URL: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnace058.pdf.Google Scholar
Adair, L. S., Popkin, B. M., Akin, J. S., Guilkey, D. K., Gultiano, S., Borja, J. et al. (2011) Cohort profile: the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. International Journal of Epidemiology 40(3), 619–625.Google Scholar
Axinn, W. G., Clarkberg, M. E. & Thornton, A. (1994) Family influences on family size preferences. Demography 31(1), 65–79.Google Scholar
Dahly, D. L. & Adair, L. S. (2007) Quantifying the urban environment: a scale measure of urbanicity outperforms the urban–rural dichotomy. Social Science & Medicine 64(7), 1407–1419.Google Scholar
Darroch, J. E. et al. (2009) Meeting women’s contraceptive needs in the Philippines. In In Brief. Guttmacher Institute, New York.Google Scholar
DRDF & UPPI (2014) 2013 YAFS4 Key Findings. Quezon City. Demographic Research and Development Foundation (DRDF) and University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI).Google Scholar
Feranil, A. B., Gultiano, S. A. & Adair, L. S. (2008) The Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey: two decades later. Asia-Pacific Population Journal 23(3), 39–54.Google Scholar
Genilo, E. M. O. (2014) The Catholic Church and reproductive health bill debate: the Philippine experience. The Heythrop Journal 55(6), 1044–1055.Google Scholar
Gipson, J. D. (2013) Recognizing the complexity of fertility decision-making in the Philippines. Paper presented at the Population Association of America, New Orleans, 11–13th April 2013.Google Scholar
Gipson, J. D., Gultiano, S. A., Avila, J. L. & Hindin, M. J. (2012) Old ideals and new realities: the changing context of young people’s partnerships in Cebu, Philippines. Culture Health & Sexuality 14(6), 613–627.Google Scholar
Gipson, J. D., Hicks, A. L. & Gultiano, S. A. (2014) Gendered differences in the predictors of sexual initiation among young adults in Cebu, Philippines. Journal of Adolescent Health 54(5), 599–605.Google Scholar
Gipson, J. D. & Hindin, M. J. (2014) Inter-generational relationships between women’s fertility, aspirations for their children’s education and school completion in the Philippines. Journal of Biosocial Science 47(6), 825–844.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guttmacher Institute & IPPF (2014) Demystifying Data: A Guide to Using Evidence to Improve Young People’s Sexual Health Rights. Guttmacher Institute and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).Google Scholar
Hussain, R. & Finer, L. B. (2013) Unintended Pregnancy and Unsafe Abortion in the Philippines: Context and Consequences. Guttmacher Institute, New York.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, M. K., Jemmott, J. B., Jemmott, L. S., Braverman, P. & Fong, G. T. (2003) The role of mother–daughter sexual risk communication in reducing sexual risk behaviors among urban adolescent females: a prospective study. Journal of Adolescent Health 33(2), 98–107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaccard, J., Dittus, P. J. & Gordon, V. V. (1998) Parent–adolescent congruency in reports of adolescent sexual behavior and in communications about sexual behavior. Child Development 69(1), 247–261.Google Scholar
Kabamalan, M. M. (2004) New path to marriage: the significance of increasing cohabitation in the Philippines. Philippine Population Review 3(1), 111–129.Google Scholar
Lee, R. B., Nacionales, L. P. & Pedroso, L. (2009) The influence of local policy on contraceptive provision and use in three locales in the Philippines. Reproductive Health Matters 17(34), 99–107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKenzie, D. J. (2003) Measure inequality with asset indicators. BREAD Working Paper No. 042, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Medina, B. T. G. (2001) The Filipino Family. University of Philippines Press, Quezon City.Google Scholar
Mello, M. M., Powlowski, M., Nanagas, J. M. & Bossert, T. (2006) The role of law in public health: the case of family planning in the Philippines. Social Science & Medicine 63(2), 384–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, K. S., Kotchick, B. A., Dorsey, S., Forehand, R. & Ham, A. Y. (1998) Family communication about sex: what are parents saying and are their adolescents listening? Family Planning Perspectives 30(5), 218–235.Google Scholar
Miller, K. S. & Whitaker, D. J. (2001) Predictors of mother–adolescent discussions about condoms: implications for providers who serve youth. Pediatrics 108(2), U45–U51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, W. B. (1986) Proception: an important fertility behavior. Demography 23(4), 579–594.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Philippines Department of Health (2013) National Policy and Strategic Framework on Adolescent Health and Development. Administrative Order No. 2013–0013. URL: http://www.doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/health_programs/AO20130013.pdf (accessed 15th December 2015).Google Scholar
Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) & ICF International (2014) Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey. Philippine Statistics Authority and ICF International, Manila, Philippines, and Rockville, MD.Google Scholar
Upadhyay, U. D. & Hindin, M. J. (2005) Do higher status and more autonomous women have longer birth intervals? Results from Cebu, Philippines. Social Science & Medicine 60(11), 2641–2655.Google Scholar
Upadhyay, U. D. & Hindin, M. J. (2006) Do perceptions of friends’ behaviors affect age at first sex? Evidence from Cebu, Philippines. Journal of Adolescent Health 39(4), 570–577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Upadhyay, U. D. & Hindin, M. J. (2007) The influence of parents’ marital relationship and women’s status on children’s age at first sex in Cebu, Philippines. Studies in Family Planning 38(3), 173–186.Google Scholar
Upadhyay, U. D., Hindin, M. J. & Gultiano, S. (2006) Before first sex: gender differences in emotional relationships and physical behaviors among adolescents in the Philippines. International Family Planning Perspectives 32(3), 110–119.Google Scholar
Vyas, S. & Kumaranayake, L. (2006) Constructing socio-economic status indices: how to use principal components analysis. Health Policy Planning 21(6), 459–468.Google Scholar
Williams, L. & Guest, M. P. (2005) Attitudes toward marriage among the urban middle-class in Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 36(2), 163–186.Google Scholar
Xenos, P. & Kabamalan, M. (2007) Emerging forms of union formation in the Philippines. Asian Population Studies 3(3), 263–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar