Mass Media Exposure and Intention to use Contraceptives in North-West Geo-Political Zone, Nigeria

Abstract

The population has been increasing and is expected to continue to increase rapidly.  This increases is projected to be due to the population growth in the less developed countries.  The rapidly the population of a country grows, the more the stress on the economy to keep up with the pace of needed infrastructure that enhances quality of life of the citizenry.  The main driver of population growth is the use of contraceptives especially among currently married women.  The data for this paper is from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey.  A subset of currently married women age 15-49 was extracted.  The paper set to find out the factors affecting mass media exposure; how exposure to mass media effect a woman’s intention to use contraceptives; as well as the correlates of a woman’s intention to use contraceptive.  The level of education, religion, occupation, place of residence, ownership of radio, and television as well as household access to electricity have significant effect on the likelihood of married women being exposed to mass media.  The level of education of a woman also have significant effect on intention to use any contraceptive. The effective use of the mass media will increase the proportion of married women who will want to use any contraceptive in the future as such on the long run there will be an improvement in the contraceptive prevalence rate for the zone and indeed the country.

Keywords: Mass Media, Intention, Contraceptive, Currently Married women