ABSTRACT
Background: Although, couples make decisions and pursue goals related to reproduction, research on fertility shows that husbands and wives have different preferences, with men tended to prefer having at least two children when compared to their wives 4 . With men having the last say on the number of children, spacing of births, and family planning decisions in the household, this lack of control over the reproductive process results in millions of unwanted pregnancies 2 . The preference for fertility changes with age, it might be an indication of shifting reproductive norms, with older men's preferences reflecting more traditional norms and younger men who are probably better educated acting as early adopters of the new norm because they are more likely to be driven 3 . Objectives: To determine the birth interval of children, desire for more children, fertility preference, to identify the family planning method used and factors associated with fertility and fertility preference among currently married men in Egor LGA, Benin City. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used for this study. Six hundred and twenty currently married men in Egor LGA, Benin City were selected for this study using a multi-stage sampling technique. Data was collected using self-administered prestructured questionnaire adapted from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) and analyzed using the IBM SPSS version 25.0 software. Data was categorized and analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequencies and percentage based on the total number of respondents. Univariate, bivariate, multivariate analysis were done. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. The results were presented with tables, charts and prose. Results: A total of 620 currently married men participated in the study. The mean age (SD) of respondents was 49.3 ± 13.5 years. A larger proportion 306 (49.4%) of respondents had tertiary level of education, most were in monogamous marriages 575 (92.7%) and the predominant religion was Christianity 524 (84.5%). Nearly half of the respondents, 304 (49.0%), had between one and three children and 454 (73.2%) households had between one and three male children. Majority of the respondents 385 (62.1%) earned ₦150,000 or more. The average age interval between children was predominantly two years or more, accounting for 422 (68.1%) with 327 respondents (52.7%) wished for four or fewer children. 505 (81.5%) of respondents use some form of contraceptive. Among current contraceptive users, the most commonly used methods are condoms 344 (68.1%), withdrawal 189 (37.4%), and oral contraceptive pills 197 (39.0%). Overall, 424 respondents (68.4%) expressed a desire to have more children. Age, household size, number of living children, sex of children, number of male and female children were significantly associated with fertility desire. With every unit increase in the age, respondents were 1.041 (95% CI=1.023-1.060, p<0.001) times more likely to desire more children and respondent in monogamous marriages were 2.535 (95% CI=1.183-5.430, p=0.017) times more likely to desire more children than respondents in polygamous marriages. Conclusion: About two-thirds of the currently married men in Egor have an average age interval between each child greater than or equal to two years. Over half of the currently married men in Egor wished for four or lesser number of children as their idea family size. Over two-third of the currently married men in Egor have the desire to have more children. More than three-quarters of the currently married men in Egor use contraceptive with over two-thirds using condom and nearly two-fifth using withdrawal method. Thus, there is a need for relevant stakeholders to introduce policies that create positive incentives for smaller family sizes and offer couples access to reproductive health counselling Keywords: Family Planning, Local Government Area, Desired Family Size, Fertility preference
