Turkmenistan belongs to the countries with a high birth rate and traditions, formed in the result of parents’ experience, play a very important role in the course of forming teenagers’ stereotypes and their attitude towards their reproductive behavior. As is known parents influence their children a lot so, a retrospective analysis of their reproductive behavior is of great importance.

The amount of the data obtained made it possible to group parents according to a number of children in the family. It turns out that among 2211 of the questioned parents most of them have four children – 21.4%, three children – 20.9%, two children – 20.2%. Then there are parents with five children – 14.3%, six children 9% and seven or more children – 8.3%. The smallest is the part of parents with one child in the family – 5.9%.

The data testify that the families of the questioned parents have in general many children and this corresponds to the general situation in Turkmenistan.

Regional data analysis according to a number of children in the family has brought to light the following correlation.

As the data show in the urban area (Ashgabat and Mary) the quantity of the families with a small number of children: 1 and 2 is higher than that in the rural area. But in the rural area on the contrary there is an increase of a number of families having four, five and more children. Thus, in Akhal velayat there are 24% of the families with four children, in Mary velayat – 23.1%, while in Ashgabat this index is 16.1% and in Mary it is 15.1%. Families with five children in Akhal velayat make 18.6%, in Mary velayat – 14% and in the cities these indices are the following: Ashgabat – 7.7%, Mary – 13.2% etc.

It may be noted that the highest level of parents with more than four children is observed in Akhal velayat. Though Mary velayat has lower indices than Akhal still the level of the families with many children there is higher than that of the cities. This allows to make a conclusion that families with many children are characteristic of the rural population. It is explained by the existing traditional lifestyle, parents’ wish to have a child of a certain gender and also by refusal of contraceptives and abortion performance, which are considered in some families “sinful”.

A retrospective analysis of parents’ reproductive behavior reveals also peculiarities of making decisions about a number of children in the family. Study of this problem is of great importance for the strategy development in the fields of information, education and communication to disseminate reproductive health care issues. The data show that very often parents make decisions about a number of children by mutual consent of the spouses – 43.8%.

Thus, democracy in making decisions to define one’s life perspective is characteristic of most families. This is not by chance, since joint life can’t exclude taking into consideration one’s spouse’s opinion in such an important question as childbirth. As the diagram shows one’s own conviction is very important for decision making about a number of children in the family and 21.6% of the questioned parents relied just on it. So, in the first and second cases it is very important for parents to have good knowledge of the reproductive behavior issues since just their opinion is very significant for reproductive behavior motivation. Besides, being competent one may reasonably convince his/her spouse in the necessity of choosing this or that contraceptive method and observing a birth space.

As is seen from the diagram an important factor of parents’ reproductive behavior is their health condition – in 11.9% of the cases. For the given number of the questioned parents this index covers rather impressive figures – about 260 parents whose reproductive activity depends on their health condition. This fact once more emphasizes the importance of the goals put forward before Woman Health Care Departments and Reproductive Health Units in particular.

Among other significant factors of parents’ reproductive behavior there are the following ones: 6.5% take heed of the spouse’s opinion, 5.2% are guided by their wish to have a child of a certain gender, 4.8% of the respondents make their decisions under the influence of their husbands’ parents, and 3.6% of the questioned observe traditions of the family in their reproductive activity. In a word it may be noted that the given combination of factors is characteristic of the traditional lifestyle and has still considerable influence on decision making. Thus, information activity in the field of spreading knowledge must cover all social layers and groups of the population to make all the sides influencing childbirth display their concern about reproductive health care. Gender data analysis revealed peculiarities of the attitude of women and men towards childbirth.

As is seen from the diagram men are more complaisant and a greater part of them agree with their spouse’s opinion – 47.6% while women agree only in 42.6% of the cases. In spite the fact that this is a great part in the groups of men and women still the number of women in the position of mutual consent is less than that of men. But the next column shows that one’s own conviction as for a number of children in the family occupies the second place in the ranks of important reproductive behavior factors. But it is more important for women since 22.3% are guided by it while giving a birth to a child. At the same time 19.3% of men choose their reproductive behavior from their own convictions. So, it is possible to say that in a rather significant number of cases wife’s conviction plays a greater role in childbirth. Thus, more intensive knowledge disseminating activity should be performed among women and girls.

Health condition factor is important both for men and women equally. Evidently men respondents mean their wives. Combination of the following factors presents a greater ground for childbirth among women than among men. As the diagram shows men are better advocates of traditions kept in the reproductive activity within a family than women – 6.1% of men have children due to this factor, while for women this ground has become determining only in 2.6% of the cases. All these peculiarities should be taken into account in the course of development of a strategy for information education and communication activity in the reproductive health issues.

One of important means of fertility regulation is birth space. Under the term of ‘birth space’ we understand lengthening of a space between birth of children and that is an element of rationalization of child – bearing and woman health improvement. It is well – known that in the course of pregnancy and breast feeding a mother gives her children breeding elements and energy and there occurs her organism’s depletion. It takes time to fully restore her forces. Clinical observation shows that usually a full restoration of a woman organism after labors is completed within 2 – 2.5 years. However, not all women observe a favorable interval and sometimes the following pregnancy occurs even in the first year after labors.

Nonobservance of a birth space brings negative consequences both to mother, fetus and a born baby as well. For instance, children born within a birth space shorter than 2 years more often have infectious- inflammatory diseases, brain blood circulation disorders. Moreover, among children born during short birth spaces there are registered prolonged and chronic forms of respiratory pathology and there may increase a threat of septicemia. There considerably increases frequency of rickets and oxidative catarrh diathesis. Besides, pregnancy with a short birth space is often taking its course with complications such as inborn hypoxia, hypotrophia of a fetus, there is also a growing possibility of getting labor traumas. As a result of frequent pregnancies there may occur still–borns and prematurely born children and also cases of small weight of newly born babies are met very often.

A short birth space is one of the reasons for some worsening of the previous child’s health since a new pregnancy causes mother’s weak condition and forced breast – feeding breaking off. And as a consequence there occurs a change of mother’s milk into an inadequate food. Besides, a child who is still in need of his mother’s care and protection is devoid of them due to a newborn baby. This situation very often causes a lack of development, infections and different accidents with these children. So, dissemination of knowledge of birth space issues among teenagers and adolescents is of great importance in the course of the nation health improvement. Birth space should be viewed as one of the most important issues of reproductive health care.

From this point of view a retrospective analysis of birth space observance by teenagers’ parents is of great interest. The data show that the most spread frequency between labor cases is a period from 1 year 6 months till 2 years. Just during this period there occur more cases of birth both after the first childbirth and the next ones. The diagram testifies that the given interval after the first childbirth was observed among 46.2% of the questioned, after the second one – 42.6%, after the third one – 46% and after the forth one – 49.4%. It means that such frequency is rather intensive and the given interval between every other one from the subsequent childbirth fluctuates between 42.6% and 49.4% of the total number of the questioned parents. Such traditional experience may become a rather important factor influencing a forthcoming reproductive activity and reproductive stereotype development of children, and in future it may create a high degree of a risk for women health, their offspring and elder children. So, information activity to disseminate knowledge of a birth space among teenagers is of great importance and topicality.

In parents’ reproductive behavior there is also observed a shorter birth space - from 1 year to 1.5 year. Moreover, after the first childbirth 18.5% of the questioned parents observe this frequency. In cases of the second and third childbirth the part of parents observing this frequency is lower – 14.4% and 14%. And the lowest percentage is that of parents having a short birth space after the forth childbirth – 9.7% of the questioned. It may be noted that a short interval between childbirth, especially after the first one is rather widespread. So, it needs to more actively disseminate knowledge about consequences for women health among the rising generation to create an objective set for young people to observe a longer birth space.

A comparative analysis of a birth space according to the region of the survey shows that there exist some differences as for the observance of frequency of pregnancies depending on the place of residence: town or village. As the data show the part of parents whose birth space between the first and the second pregnancies exceeds 4 years in cities is larger. The most significant index is in Ashgabat, where 34.7% of parents observe this interval, moreover their number is more than that of the rest ones. In Mary the part of parents observing a birth space of more than 4 years makes 25.6%. Though in the group of parents from Mary this is the second index according to its quantity, but still it is higher than the same data in rural regions. This circumstance may be most likely explained by social differences of life conditions in cities, as well as large opportunities of using different sources of information and their availability for the population.

In rural regions there is observed the fact that pregnancy frequency falls to 1.6 – 2 years and sometimes even lower. For example, in Akhal velayat the second according to its quantity part of parents – 42.2% observe the smallest birth space of 1 – 1.5 year. It means that this index almost 2.5 times and more exceeds the same one in other regions. And the index of those who observe an interval of 1.6 – 2 years makes 45.9%. In Mary velayat the major frequency of the first childbirth is 1.6 – 2 years that is 48.2%, and there is a considerable part of parents observing a short interval – 15.4%. It is obvious that information activity in the field of disseminating knowledge about a birth space must be more actively conducted in the village.

The results of the analysis of the birth space between the second and the third childbirth testify about stable differences in the observance of this interval between childbirth in the city and village. In spite of the fact that the part of parents observing the interval of 1.6 – 2 years in all groups is rather big, still the part of the questioned parents observing more than 4 years both after the first and the second pregnancy is bigger in Mary and Ashgabat than in the rural area. In the rural area the part of parents observing the interval of 1.6 – 2 years remains larger. However, in these regions the part of parents observing birth space of 2 – 3 years after the second childbirth increases more than after the first one, where the quantity of parents with a short birth space (1 – 1.5) is larger. In the rural area the part of parents observing the interval of 2 – 3 years after the third childbirth is already larger than after the first and second ones. It is obvious that depletion of a woman’s organism after the previous childbirth forces her to increase a birth space.

It is obvious that differences in birth space observance result from a lack of systematic clarifying work devoted to the problems of consequences of low frequency of pregnancies. As a result the choice of the interval depended on psychological factors or on the mercy of a chance. Thus, a considerable part of parents while answering the question: “Whose advice was deciding in your observance of a birth space?” – noted their own conviction. They make 35.5% of the respondents. For 27.8% of the respondents their observance of a birth space was a matter of a chance. And only 17.5% of the respondents marked that they followed doctor’s advice. The rest factors didn’t reveal any important statistic connection: for 7.5% of the parents their observance of the interval was a result of bad health, for 6.6% a deciding factor was their parents’ advice, for 2.7% it was knowledge got from literature. Unfortunately the last figure testifies about a lack of literature devoted to birth space and this results in weakening the attention of the population of a reproductive age to such important problems as reproductive health care and birth space. In connection with this publication of literature, booklets, brochures dealing with this issue is an important activity in creating sources of information. This will allow solving one of important problems in enjoying reproductive rights by teenagers, youth and those who make a family. To exercise one’s rights to get information will allow increasing the volume of the information obtained about contraceptives. As a retrospective analysis of parents’ contraceptive usage shows they obviously have had restricted information since 60% of the questioned more often have used IUD. And 23% have not used any contraceptives at all.

The rest types of contraceptives have been used by an insignificant number of parents: 7% use their menstrual cycle, 6% mainly use condoms and 2% use hormonal tablets. It is obvious that a restricted number of those using all the contraceptives except IUD may be explained by a lack of information about advantages and disadvantages of each of the given types.

Further analysis has shown that the most trustful source of information for parents is doctor’s advice – 45.2% of the questioned received advice about contraceptives from a doctor. This testifies that dissemination of information about fertility regulation may be more effectively performed through health care departments and opening reproductive health care centers, since just they may become the most trustful and qualified source of information about reproductive health care issues. Their task consists in drawing the population into regular consultations. Even 45.2% of those who’ve got information about contraception from a doctor make an insignificant level of information dissemination among the population.

A lack of information is proved by the following data showing that 19.6% of the questioned haven’t used any sources of information at all and only 13,9% of parents have received information about contraception from magazines, booklets and newspapers. And the most insignificant role in propaganda of reproductive health care issues belongs to TV and radio – only 4,9% of parents have learned about contraception from them. For 9,2% of the respondents their choice has been influenced by their parents advice; 7% of the questioned have got this advice from their friends and peers. It may be noted that a need for this information has existed before and exists now. In the past parents used to make a partial search for an answer in the family or a peers’ company. Now for the next generations it is necessary to create an opportunity of free access to qualified sources where the amount of information would allow providing men and women with the right to choose fertility regulation means as well as protective means of one’s own reproductive health.