Angela Baschieri
Andrew Hinde

http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol16/3/

doi:10.4054/DemRes.2007.16.3

	Click the icon to view and/or download the PDF file. Once you are in the PDF file, use your browser back button to return to this page.

Abstract
In this paper we use calendar data from the 2000 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to assess the determinants of birth interval length among women who are in union. We make use of the well-known model of the proximate determinants of fertility, and take advantage of the fact that the DHS calendar data provide month-by-month data on contraceptive use, breastfeeding and post-partum amenorrhoea, which are the most important proximate determinants among women in union. One aim of the analysis is to see whether the calendar data are sufficiently detailed to account for all variation among individual women in birth interval duration, in that once they are controlled, the effect of background social, economic and cultural variables is not statistically significant. The results suggest that this is indeed the case, especially after a random effect term to account for the unobserved proximate determinants is included in the model. Birth intervals are determined mainly by the use of modern methods of contraception (the IUD being more effective than the pill). Breastfeeding and post-partum amenorrhoea both inhibit conception, and the effect of breastfeeding remains even after the period of amenorrhoea has ended.

Author's affiliation
Angela Baschieri
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
Andrew Hinde
University of Southampton, United Kingdom

Keywords
calendar data, contraceptive use, Egypt, fertility, proximate determinants, survival analysis

Word count (Main text)
8088

Other articles by the same author/authors (in Demographic Research)

	[22-2] Ethnic differences in transition to first marriage in Iran: The role of marriage market, women’s socio-economic status, and process of development
	[20-11] Unusually small sex differentials in mortality of Israeli Jews: What does the structure of causes of death tell us?
	[17-7] Fertility and union dissolution in Brazil: an example of multi-process modelling using the Demographic and Health Survey calendar data

Similar articles in Demographic Research

	[23-12] Contraceptive use and intent in Guatemala (fertility, contraceptive use)
	[17-7] Fertility and union dissolution in Brazil: an example of multi-process modelling using the Demographic and Health Survey calendar data (fertility, calendar data)
	[10-4] Fertility behaviour of recent immigrants to Israel: A comparative analysis of immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union (fertility, contraceptive use)

[ Back to previous page ]