RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate how willingness to have an additional childbirth was related to mother's general characteristics and various reasons for avoiding an additional childbirth. METHODS: By using organized questionnaire, we had face-to-face interviews with 722 mothers who had 12 to 36 months child in a urban-rural area of Chungcheongnam-do from 14 February to 19 February in 2005. Questionnaires included general characteristics composed of age, monthly income, number of children, major carers and mother's job status, and 6 reasons for avoiding an additional childbirth. We performed chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Of 722 mothers, 66.5% had no willingness to have an additional childbirth. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, old age of mother(95% CI of OR: 1.084-1.190), two or more children(95% CI of OR: 6.97-15.602) and weak norm about need for a child(95% CI of OR: 1.633-29.352) were independent related factors with willingness to have an additional childbirth. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, 2/3 women who already had children were appeared to have no willingness to have additional childbirth. Policies about family planning and controlling birth rate should be focused on eliminating barrier to additional childbirths.