Table 1 Description of variables used in the study

Age group

Respondent’s current age was grouped into three categories- ‘15–24 years’ (coded as 1), ‘25–34 years’ (coded as 2), and ‘35–49 years’ (coded as 3)

Age at marriage

Respondents were asked about their age in years at their first marriage. The variable was generated with three categories- ‘Less than 20 years’ (coded as 1), ’20–25 years’ (coded as 2), and ‘More than 25 years’ (coded as 3)

Level of education

Asked respondents what is their highest year of education. Those who had never been to school were labelled as ‘not educated’ (coded as 0) and those who attained primary level, secondary level and higher level of education were labelled as ‘Primary’ (coded as 1), ‘Secondary’ (coded as 2), and ‘Higher’ (coded as 3)

Social groups

There are four official social groups, i.e., ‘Scheduled Caste’ (coded as 1), ‘Scheduled Tribe’ (coded as 2), ‘Other Backward Caste’ (coded as 3) and ‘Others’ (coded as 0).

Religion

Respondent’s religion has three categories- ‘Hindu’ (coded as 0), ‘Muslim’ (coded as 01), and ‘Others’ (coded as 2) (including Christian, Sikh, Buddhist/Neo-Buddhist, Jain, Jewish, Parsi/Zoroastrian, no religion, and other)

Household wealth index

The wealth index is a measure of a household’s socio-economic status and is used as a proxy for a household’s income. It is made up of five categories (quintiles). The five categories are: ‘poorest’ (coded as 0), ‘poorer’

(coded as 1); ‘middle’ (coded as 2); ‘richer’ (coded as 3); ‘richest’ (coded as 4).

Place of residence

Place of residence was of two types: ‘rural’ (coded as 1) and ‘urban’ (coded as 0)

Exposure to family planning messages through mass media

Five questions were asked whether they have a) heard about family planning on the radio in the last few months, b) heard about family planning on TV in the last few months, c) read about family planning in newspapers/magazines in the last few months, d) heard about family planning on internet and e) heard about family planning on wall painting and hoarding. Women were considered ‘exposed’ (coded as 0) to mass media if they had exposure to any of these sources; and as ‘not-exposed’ (coded as 1) if otherwise

Total number of children before the index child

The number of children born before the index child was categorized as: ‘One child’ (coded as 0) and ‘Two or more children’ (coded as 1)

Survival status of the previous child

The survival status of the previous child was of two types- ‘Dead’ (coded as 1) and ‘Alive’ (coded as 0)

Sex of the child before the index child

The gender/sex of the previous child was of two types- ‘Male’ (coded as 0) and ‘Female’ (coded as 1)

Desired number of sons

The number of male children/sons/boys responded wished to have over her life. The variable has two categories- ‘None’ (coded as 0) and ‘One or more sons’ (coded as 1)

Level of poverty in community

The proportion of poor mothers (those from the poorest and poorer quintiles) in the primary sampling unit. It was categorised as- ‘Low’ (< 33%)’ (coded as 0), ‘Medium’ (33–66%) (coded as 1), and ‘High’ (> 66%) (coded as 2).

Level of education in community

The average number of years of schooling in the primary sampling unit. It was categorised into ‘Low’ (up to 5 years)’ (coded as 0), ‘Medium’ (6–12 years) (coded as 1), and ‘High’ (> 12 years) (coded as 2).

Proportion of women with exposure on family planning through mass media in PSU

The proportion of mothers exposed to family planning messages through mass media in the primary sampling unit was categorised as ‘Low’ (< 33%)’ (coded as 0), ‘Medium’ (33–66%) (coded as 1), and ‘High’ (> 66%) (coded as 2).

Region of residence

The states of India were grouped into six regions: ‘Northern’ (coded as 1, consists of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himanchal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Rajasthan), ‘Central’ (coded as 2, consists of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh), ‘Eastern’ (coded as 3, consists of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha), ‘Northeastern’ (coded as 4, consists of Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura), ‘Western’ (coded as 5, consist of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu), ‘Southern’ (coded as 6, consist of Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana).