Women’s decisions about childbearing and healthy behaviors occur within family and community contexts. That’s why IPUMS DHS is excited to announce its most recent achievement: the incorporation of men as a unit of analysis!
Men’s data in IPUMS DHS cover:
- Background characteristics, such as ethnicity, education, and media exposure
- Marriage and sexual activity
- Family planning use, reproduction, and fertility desires
- AIDS knowledge, HIV testing, other STIs, and condom use
- Work and household decision-making
- Attitudes toward female circumcision and domestic violence
- Health behaviors (such as alcohol and tobacco use) and health care access
While the above variables mirror variables for women, some questions are only asked of men (e.g., whether a man has the right to get angry, withhold financial support, use force, or have an affair if his wife refuses to have sex).
If you want to jump right in and begin using the men’s variables today, here are a few technical details. IPUMS DHS usually uses the same name for men’s variables as for women’s variables but adds an “MN” at the end (e.g., IDEALKID for women, IDEALKIDMN for men). As always, users have the option of displaying the mnemonic IPUMS variable names (IDEALKIDMN) or the original DHS variable names (MV613) on the “Select Data” display pages for IPUMS DHS.
Who was included in the DHS men’s surveys varies, so checking the “Universe” tab in the variable descriptions is especially important when analyzing these data.
Approximately 120 of the 156 samples currently in IPUMS DHS include data collected from men.
If you love these new data, let us know. If you have any questions about the men’s data, let us know that too!
Story by Miriam L. King
Integrated Demographic and Health Surveys (IPUMS DHS) project