The belief that contraceptive use causes infertility has been documented across sub-Saharan Africa, but its quantitative association with actual contraceptive use has not been examined. We collected and analyzed sociocentric network data covering 74 percent of the population in two villages in rural Kenya. We asked respondents to nominate people from their village (their network), and then we matched their network (alters) to the individual participant (ego) to understand how their beliefs and behaviors differ. We asked about contraceptive use and level of agreement with a statement about contraceptive use causing infertility. We calculated the average nominated network contraceptive use score and the average nominated network belief score. Holding the individual belief that contraceptive use causes infertility was associated with lower odds of using contraceptive (AOR = 0.82, p = < 0.01); however, when one's own nominated network connections held this belief, the odds of using contraceptive were even lower (AOR = 0.75, p <0.01). Our findings show that this belief is associated with lower odds of contraceptive use and highlights the role that other people in one's network play in reinforcing it. Sexual and reproductive health programs should address this misperception at the individual and social network level.

中文翻译：

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相信避孕药会导致不孕症真的会影响使用吗？肯尼亚社交网络研究的结果

整个撒哈拉以南非洲地区都记录了使用避孕药具会导致不孕的信念，但它与实际使用避孕药具的定量关联尚未得到检验。我们收集并分析了覆盖肯尼亚农村两个村庄 74% 人口的社会中心网络数据。我们要求受访者提名他们村里的人（他们的网络），然后我们将他们的网络（改变）与个体参与者（自我）相匹配，以了解他们的信仰和行为有何不同。我们询问了避孕药具的使用以及与避孕药具使用导致不孕的声明的一致程度。我们计算了平均提名网络避孕使用分数和平均提名网络信念分数。p = < 0.01); 然而，当一个人自己指定的网络连接持有这种信念时，使用避孕药的几率甚至更低（AOR = 0.75，p <0.01）。我们的研究结果表明，这种信念与使用避孕药具的几率降低有关，并强调了人际网络中的其他人在加强它方面所起的作用。性和生殖健康计划应在个人和社会网络层面解决这种误解。