Couple Attitudes and Agreement Regarding Pregnancy Wantedness in the Philippines

We compare husbandsʹ and wivesʹ views of the wantedness of their most recent pregnancy in the Philippines, a country where relatively high levels of unintended fertility persist. This research is an extension of earlier work that looked separately at individual menʹs and womenʹs responses. We analyze survey data for 369 couples and find that those most at risk of experiencing a pregnancy that neither spouse wanted tended to be higher parity couples, those who were more fatalistic, those who were practicing Catholics who attended religious services frequently, and those among whom the husband was the sole breadwinner. Higher parity women and older women were also more apt to experience a pregnancy that was wanted by only 1 spouse. Women who had difficulty discussing sexual matters with their husbands were more likely than other women to have a pregnancy that their husbands wanted but they did not.