The influence of gender norms on contraceptive use among urban youths in Kinondoni municipality, Tanzania.

Following the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, both affluent and non-affluent countries began to lay down strategies to attain gender equity with the expectation of positively influencing contraceptive use. Over 20 years gone, there was limited knowledge on the influence of gender norms on contraceptive use specifically among the youths in Tanzania. This study was henceforth conducted with the main objective being to discuss the step reached in attaining equitable gender norms, and whether it has impacted on contraceptive use or nonuse, among urban youths. This cross-sectional descriptive study design included a sample of 120 youth age 15-24 drawn from both in and out of school premises of Tegeta ward, Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es Salaam region, Tanzania. The social survey methods were used to collect data whereby the questionnaires were completed by 113 youth between December 2014 and January 2015 followed by in-depth interviews done in March 2015 with 18 youth selected from within the initial sample. The computerized predictive analytics software (PASW version 18) was used to analyse the quantitative data due to its ability to generate easy to read descriptive data tables and graphs while structural hermeneutics was applied to analyze qualitative data for it enabled the researcher to easily assign the responses from in-depth interviews to the key concepts of the structuration theory. The findings showed there was slightly equal percentages of youths with high, moderate, and low equitable attitudes towards the gender norms. The study also revealed the existence of positive attitudes among the urban youths toward contraceptive use, seventy seven percent of the respondents were knowledgeable on contraceptives whereas the highly known methods were the calendar, condoms, pills, implants and injections, contraceptive use among sexually active youths were high as expected (i.e. 60%), and that there was a strong positive relationship between gender norms and contraceptive use which was statistically significant at (r = 4, n = 60, p = <.001)