Capturing Complexities of Relationship-Level Family Planning Trajectories in Malawi.

ABSTRACT: In a transitioning fertility climate, preferences and decisions surrounding family planning are constantly in flux. Malawi provides an ideal case study of family planning complexities as fertility preferences are flexible, the relationship context is unstable, and childbearing begins early. I use intensive longitudinal data from Tsogolo la Thanzi-a research project in Malawi that follows young adults in romantic partnerships through the course of their relationship. I examine two questions: (1) What are the typical patterns of family planning as young adults transition through a relationship? (2) How are family planning trajectories related to individual and relationship-level characteristics? I use sequence analysis to order family planning across time and to contextualize it within each

SUBMITTER: Furnas HE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5599157 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature