Reproductive Health Care Utilization among Young Mothers in Bangladesh: Does Autonomy Matter?

Objective To examine the linkage between the possible influences of the extent of autonomy on young mothers use of reproductive health care services. Methods This paper used data from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey. The analyses were based on responses of 1,778 currently married women aged 15 to 24 years, living with at least one 0- to 35-month-old child. Utilization of antenatal health services (ANC) services by amount and type of provider, and utilization of delivery assistance according to provider type were used as proxy outcome variables of reproductive health care utilization. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression methods were employed in the analysis. Results Approximately one third (31%) of the currently married young women in Bangladesh had a…