Exploring the Impact of Socio-demographic Factors on Waiting Time to First Conception

First birth interval i.e. the interval between marriage and first birth plays an important role in determination of fertility level of the society. It is found that in Indian traditional society where use of contraceptives is rare before first birth, waiting time to first conception, which is generally nine months smaller than the interval between marriage and first birth, can be used in determination of fertility of a female. Moreover, several socio-demographic factors influence the waiting time to first conception in Indian social contexts. The objective of the study is to observe the effect of some socio-demographic characteristics on the waiting time to first conception. In the present analysis weibull regression techniques has been used over non-parametric regression techniques because it captures the heterogeneity in the phenomenon having increasing hazard better than a non-parametric regression.
The data has been used from NFHS-III for the females of the one of the most populous state of India known as Uttar Pradesh. According to analysis without heterogeneity; place of residence, religion and spousal age difference are found significant, whereas, analysis with heterogeneity explains the significance of place of residence, religion, spousal age difference as well as of age at first marriage.