Fertility desire among Iranians living in Tehran: reasons for desire and disinterest

Abstract

Objective: To find out reasons for fertility desire or fertility disinterest among people living in Tehran, Iran. Methods: This was a population-based study. A sample of married individuals living in all 22 districts in Tehran recruited and was asked to indicate reasons for desire or disinterest for fertility. Data were collected via a single open question. Participants were free to name several reasons as they wish. Descriptive analysis was used to explore the data. Results: In all 1200 individuals (600 male and 600 female) were interviewed. The mean age of participants was 33.6 (SD = 7.31) years. The most important reason for fertility desire was wish to experience parenthood (90.7%) followed by having inadequate number of children (72.4%) and interest in having a crowded family (64.1%). The most important reason for disinterest for fertility was worrying about the future of the new child (83.2%) followed by economic problems (77.5%), and having adequate number of children (74.5%). Conclusion: The findings might help health policy makers to implement appropriate interventions if they wish to improve population growth rate for the country.

Keywords

• oral contraceptive pills (ocp)
• side effects
• women health
• mood changes