This paper uses Demographic and Health Survey (DHS I) data to investigate the influence of education upon use of traditional contraceptive methods.
Traditional methods include periodic abstinence (rhythm), withdrawal, and country-specific folk methods. Bivariate analysis shows that as education
increases, so does the use of traditional contraception in all nine countries. However, controlling for contraceptive use by eliminating non-users from the analysis reveals differences in the relationship between education level and the use of traditional contraception. In only four countries did the use of traditional contraception increase over education level. Multivariate logistic regression was employed separately for each country to identify the contributions of additional variables to the use of traditional methods. The results showed that education significantly contributed to the use of traditional contraception in only two of the nine countries. Age, rural residence, and wanting another child were significant in many of the countries examined. These results suggest that education does not affect traditional method use among women contracepting when controlling for other factors.