TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘I Am on a Family Planning Program, but I Have Not Told My Husband’
T2 - Contraceptive Decision-Making of Child Brides in Ghana
AU - Gyan, Sylvia E.
AU - Domfe, George
AU - Tsiboe-Darko, Antoinette
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2023/9
Y1 - 2023/9
N2 - This study explores the factors that influence child bride’s decision making, either independently or jointly on modern contraceptive use in Ghana. The findings of this study are based on qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews with 15 child brides aged 15–24 years from four administrative regions in Ghana. It was observed that knowing about contraceptives, quality of the knowledge, attitude and sociocultural influences affected child brides’ decision to use contraception. Thus, autonomy in decision making requires first, making the decision to access contraceptives and secondly, whether the decision can be implemented alone or with permission or in consultation with their spouses. It can be concluded from this study that child brides are not always as vulnerable and unable to exercise agency as is sometimes suggested because they sometimes used contraceptives without informing their partners although there is the possibility of a negative backlash from their partners when it is known.
AB - This study explores the factors that influence child bride’s decision making, either independently or jointly on modern contraceptive use in Ghana. The findings of this study are based on qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews with 15 child brides aged 15–24 years from four administrative regions in Ghana. It was observed that knowing about contraceptives, quality of the knowledge, attitude and sociocultural influences affected child brides’ decision to use contraception. Thus, autonomy in decision making requires first, making the decision to access contraceptives and secondly, whether the decision can be implemented alone or with permission or in consultation with their spouses. It can be concluded from this study that child brides are not always as vulnerable and unable to exercise agency as is sometimes suggested because they sometimes used contraceptives without informing their partners although there is the possibility of a negative backlash from their partners when it is known.
KW - Ghana
KW - child brides
KW - child marriage
KW - decision-making
KW - modern contraceptives
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130523341&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0192513X221093297
DO - 10.1177/0192513X221093297
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130523341
SN - 0192-513X
VL - 44
SP - 2398
EP - 2421
JO - Journal of Family Issues
JF - Journal of Family Issues
IS - 9
ER -