Influence of the preference for sons on contraceptive use in Bangladesh: A multivariate analysis

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The preference for sons has been documented not only in Bangladesh but also in many Asian and African countries across various religions and social strata. This paper examines the levels, trends, and differentials in the use of contraceptives and investigates the effects of the preference for sons on contraception in Bangladesh. This research project extracted data from the last four nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey datasets (BDHS: 2004, 2007, 2011, and 2014) to examine the trends of preference for sons. The use of contraceptives among the respondents who had only daughters was comparatively lower than among those who had only sons due to a preference for sons. The analysis also reveals that the preference for sons was invariant with regards to various demographic and socioeconomic factors. Moreover, the analysis of religion in all four survey datasets indicates that Muslim women had stronger preferences for sons than their non-Muslim counterparts. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the preference for sons was strongest among women who had no education, did not work, and lived in rural areas.