Family Change and Continuity in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Birth Control Use Before the First Pregnancy

175 words) Using data from the 2002 Iran Fertility Transition Survey (IFTS) collected in four Iranian provinces, the authors examine changes in elapsed time between marriage and first pregnancy. Across 1971-2000 marriage cohorts, a u-shaped pattern is observed. This pattern can be explained by: i) a monotonic decline in conception interval length possibly associated with a shift from arranged to romantic marriages overlaid by ii) a sharp increase in birth control use among those married after 1990. The authors focus on the post 1990 increase in contraceptive use and develop two explanations. The first posits that birth control use reflects a new marriage form, the conjugal marriage, which places a heightened value on the spousal relationship while de-emphasizing the centrality of parenthood. The competing explanation stresses the use of a new resource, effective contraception, within an Iranian-Islamist view of marriage. Key to this explanation is the role of the state --Iranian political/religious actors encourage early marriage and the use of birth control. Evidence from the IFTS provides more support for the later explanation (than the former). * The first two authors are listed alphabetically and contributed equally to the paper. The contact author is S. Philip Morgan. This research was supported by grants from the Welcome Trust. Morgan’s participation was supported by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R03 HD046484-01). The authors thank Jennifer Johnson-Hanks, Hans Peter Kohler, Susan Watkins, Arland Thornton, Steven Martin, and Elizabeth Drogan for comments on earlier drafts. 1 Associate Professor and Head, Department of Demography, University of Tehran, Iran, and Associate, Demography and Sociology Program, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia. Email: [email protected] 2 Professor and Chair, Sociology Department, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708-0088, USA. Email: [email protected] 3 Research Scholar, Demography and Sociology Program, The Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia. Email: [email protected] 4 Professor and Head, Demography and Sociology Program, The Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia. Email: [email protected]