The uptake of modern contraception in a Gambian community: the diffusion of an innovation over 25 years
Mace, R;
Allal, N;
Sear, R;
Prentice, A;
(2006)
The uptake of modern contraception in a Gambian community: the diffusion of an innovation over 25 years.
In: Wells, JCK; Strickland, SS; Laland, KN, (eds.)
Social Information Transmission and Human Biology.
CRC Press, Florida, pp. 191-205.
ISBN 9780849340475
https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/20986
Permanent Identifier
Use this permanent URL when citing or linking to this resource.
In this study we examine first use of mode
rn contraception in four Gambian villages
over 25 years. This is the first such st
udy showing micro-level
change over time from
the first availability of this new technol
ogical innovation. In 1975, a medical centre
was opened in one village providing contracep
tive services free of charge to those
who wished to use it. We examined dete
rminants of women’s age at first use of
modern contraceptives, from 1975 or from age 15 if younger than that in 1975. The
ideal of large family size re
mains strong, and those at low
parity are significantly less
likely to start using contraception than those
at high parity for their age. Wealth was
also significantly related to the probability
of contraceptive use,
but negatively, with
the wealthiest ranked women being the least li
kely to adopt the innovation. But we
find that the largest effects on the probab
ility of uptake were village and calendar
year. Over the last 25 years,
there is a doubling time of about
10 years in the risk of
progressing to first use of contraception. Villages with strong social
ties proceed at a
similar rate, whereas one vill
age that had fewer social tie
s with the others proceeded
at a much faster rate. Thes
e patterns of uptake suggest
that cultural transmission has
an important effect on the spread of this
technological innovation. We also compare
the reproductive success (i.e. completed fertility
) of users and non-users, and find that
women using contraception actually have higher reproductive success than those that
do not. The dynamics of uptake are discussed
in the light of both evolutionary and
social network models of cultural diffusion.