Rethinking the Social Dimensions of Child-Spacing among Young Women in Nigeria

Isaac Adedeji, University of Ibadan
Adedeji Adewusi, Lagos Business School

Child-spacing is an important effort towards ensuring quality maternal and child health outcomes. Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous nation contends with the relative decline in contraceptive uptake. This portends more worry as the country advances towards the era of the demographic dividend. Controversies abound regarding why this decline is occurring. Theoretical and practice-based explanations have attempted to locate the problem within reasonable contexts of social, political and cultural factors. However, this study recognizes the changing dynamics of the unmet modern contraceptive needs, discontinuation of contraceptive and resultant decline in the adoption of family planning. Hence, by means of the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) Data, this paper combines the social-constructionist perspective with statistical outputs in engaging the underlying social dimensions of child spacing. Thus, the paper re-imagines the changing dynamics as advantages and discusses each of these issues within the context of policy and programmatic benefits.