Intimate partners’ violence and birth spacing in Nigeria- implications for high fertility

Sarafa Shittu, Federal University Oye-Ekiti
Blessing B. I. Babalola, Federal University Oye-Ekiti

Past researchers have indicated that intimate partners’ violence is on the increase which was revealed to be associated with victim’s reproductive and health life. In addition, the population of Nigeria is high with over 177 million people (PRB, 2014). Consequently, this study was done using the NDHS(2013) to investigate the influence of socio-demographic factors and intimate partners’ violence on birth spacing in Nigeria at univariate, bivariate and multivariate level (binary logistic regression). The study revealed that intimate partners’ violence significantly influenced child spacing in Nigeria after controlling for confounding variables. The current age of mothers, religion, region, wealth index significantly influenced birth spacing in Nigeria at p-value < 0.05. The study therefore recommends that policy and programs should address the significant factors that influence birth spacing in order to achieve that aim of reducing fertility and improved maternal health in Nigeria. Keywords: child spacing, Violence, Nigeria. .