Between-birth intervals in newly married Bulgarian families.
An essential component of the family planning of a newly married couple is determining not only the number of children but also the spacing of births.


OBJECTIVE
To study the preferences of newly married couples of Bulgarian ancestry from Plovdiv for between-birth intervals and factors that have effect on them.


METHODS
The present transversal study was designed to investigate family planning in young families of Bulgarian origin from the town of Plovdiv at the time of submission of documents for state registration of marriage. The primary sociological information was gathered by a direct individual inquiry of 384 families. The data were compared with data from a similar study performed in 1995.


RESULTS
Only one third of the women are willing to have a child immediately after marriage. Men prefer this to happen 1.61 +/- 0.07 year after the marriage while women favour longer protogenetic interval--1.84 +/- 0.06. The opinion of the spouses inquired about the age of women at last birth shows that there is statistically significant increase in this variable from 34.89 +/- 0.29 years in 1995 to 36.33 +/- 0.32 years in 2000. No statistically significant difference was found between the protogenetic intervals of 2000 and 1995.


CONCLUSIONS
The increased age at marriage, the postponement of childbirth and increase in the anticipated age of last birth supports the thesis that the Bulgarian family type has undergone changes towards the family type characteristic for the countries in Western Europe.
Stefanov
Rumen S
RS
Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, Medical University, Plovdiv, 15A Vassil Aprilov St., 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Dimitrov
Ivo D
ID
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001721:Birth Intervals; D002031:Bulgaria; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D013997:Time Factors