title: Decline of supportive attitudes among husbands toward female genital mutilation and its association to those practices in Yemen.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate the attitudes of women and their husband's towards female genital mutilation (FGM) and their associations with the continuation of FGM upon their daughters.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 10,345 (in 1997) and 11,252 (in 2003) ever married women aged 15 to 49 years from the Yemen Demographic Health Surveys. Performances of FGM on the most-recently-born daughters were investigated. Attitudes of women and their husbands were assessed by their opinions on the continuation of FGM. The association between the attitudes of women and their husbands and performance of FGM on the most-recently-born daughters were investigated after adjusting for age and education of the women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage among the most-recently-born daughters who received FGM of women who had undergone FGM declined from 61.9% in 1997 to 56.5% in 2003 (p<0.001). The percentages of women who had undergone FGM and who supported the continuation of FGM and of husbands who also supported its continuation decreased from 78.2% and 60.1% in 1997 to 70.9% and 49.5% in 2003, respectively (both p<0.001). When the women or the husbands did not agree with FGM, it was less likely to be performed on their daughter than when the women or the husbands agreed in 1997 (odds ratio=0.11, 95% confidence interval 0.07-0.16 and odds ratio=0.07, 95% confidence interval 0.04-0.12, respectively) and in 2003 (odds ratio=0.12, 95% confidence interval 0.09-0.16 and odds ratio=0.11, 95% confidence interval 0.07-0.16, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Non-supportive attitudes of women and their husbands towards the continuation of FGM have become common and were associated with their decision not to perform FGM upon their daughters.
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health and Medicine, Division of Public Health, Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Ghadah Abdulmajid
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Al-Khulaidi
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health and Medicine, Division of Public Health, Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health and Medicine, Division of Public Health, Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kaoruko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Seino
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, Division of Public Health, Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kizuki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D019093:Circumcision, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012098:Reproduction; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D015006:Yemen; D055815:Young Adult