FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CHOICE OF FAMILY SIZE AMONGST FEMALE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN UDUTH SOKOTO

Studies have shown that various factors influence a woman’s decision on the number of children to have. These include religion, culture, socio-economic status, government policies and basic human rights. All these exert different degrees of influence by acting singly or in combination to determine the choice(s) a person makes (FOS 1990). This work is an empirical study done at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto, Nigeria, to examine the factors in the choice of family size amongst female health professionals. A total of 95 respondents were drawn from various professional cadres and data collected through self administered questionnaire. The analysis of the data showed that 53 (29.5%) of respondents were influenced by their spouses, 43 (23.9%) by the reason that they needed assistance later in life and 42 (23.3%) indicated that their educational background influenced their family size. Only 7 (3.9%) of the respondents said sex preference had an influence on their family size decision. Other reason such as uncertainty of survival to adulthood was given by 24 respondents. The study then concludes that many factors act singly and in combination to influence the choice of family size amongst women.