Religion and contraceptive use among sexually active adolescent girls in Kenya: A 2014 Demographic Health Survey analysis

Abstract

Background: In Kenya, according to the 2014 Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS), 50 of women % aged 20-49 had their sexual debut by 18 years. Early sexual initiation is associated with adverse health outcomes such as unwanted adolescent pregnancies, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), and cervical cancer. Modern contraceptive use could reduce the level of unwanted pregnancy. However, not much is known of the association between religion and modern contraceptive use in Kenya.
Objective: To determine whether the type of religion is associated with modern contraceptive use among sexually active adolescent girls in Kenya.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was utilized to conduct a secondary analysis of the Kenyan DHS 2014 female dataset. Participants included 732 sexually active adolescent girls 15-19 years of age. The primary outcome measure was the current use of a modern contraceptive method. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done. Weighting for the sampling probabilities was done for all calculations.
Results: The proportion of sexually active adolescent girls reporting current use of modern contraception was 30.2 . By religious group, 30.7 of Christians % % and 21.1 of Muslims were currently using modern % contraception. However, when comparing Muslims and Christians, the type of religion adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic factors was not associated with the current use of a modern contraceptive method [OR=0.66(95 CI 0.29,1.49)]. % There was a strong association between the current use of a modern contraceptive method and having had children [OR=8.40(95 CI 4.45,15.84)] compared to % those with no children. However, there was no difference in modern contraceptive use between religions in this sub-group between religions [OR=1.45(95 CI 0.46,4.63)]. %
Conclusion: Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) was low among sexually active adolescent girls between 15 and 19 years in Kenya. There was no difference in modern contraceptive use between adolescents of different religions.