A Multilevel Model of Family Planning Availability and Contraceptive Use in Rural Thailand

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Abstract
This paper assesses the ways in which the availability of family planning program outlets influences the likelihood of contraceptive use in rural Thailand. It focuses on a village-level measure of actual availability of sources rather than respondent perceptions of availability. Individuallevel and village-level data collected as part of the second Thailand Contraceptive Prevalence Survey are used to test three hypotheses about the effects of actual availability: that (a) availability of family planning outlets increases the likelihood of contraceptive use; (b) it enhances the effect of a desire for no more children on the likelihood of use; and (c) it weakens the positive relationship between education and the likelihood of use.