In order to address these questions, Short Fabic and Jadhav examined DHS data, and divided women into four main analytic groups:
- DHS method (sexually active within the 4 weeks/1 month preceding interview).
- Guttmacher Institute/WHO method (sexually active within the 3 months preceding the interview).
- An alternative method periodically used in research (sexually active in the 12 months preceding the interview)
- All sexually active women regardless of timing of last sex (those women who had ever had sex).
Key Finding: Sexual Recency is An Important Factor
While the study reported several results, the key takeaway relates to the comparison of contraceptive use and unmet need between unmarried women and married women. There is not much of a difference in contraceptive prevalence or unmet need among married women who were last sexually active 1 month, 3 months, or 12 years ago.
However, this is not the same for unmarried women.
As sexual recency increases (from 1 month to 12 months and ever having been sexually active) among unmarried women, contraceptive prevalence is systematically lower and the unmet need is systematically higher. This indicates that among unmarried women, sexual recency is an important consideration in unmet need and contraceptive prevalence.
Short Fabic notes: “There’s been a lot of other research coming out, recognizing that even when we do see higher levels of CPR among unmarried women, they still have much higher levels of unmet need. Seeing that play out across so many different countries and cultural contexts — it’s a good reminder for us as to the disparities in programming and policies, and all the social and cultural norms that influence women’s behaviors or their reporting of their behavior. The unmet need was an interesting finding, which spoke to things we already knew and now have numbers to put alongside.”