Reproductive coercion, gender role attitudes and fertility desire among married women in Türkiye: a descriptive and explanatory study

Reproductive coercion, a form of gender-based violence used as a tool of power and control in interpersonal relationships and includes behaviors that interfere with women’s reproductive autonomy, remains inadequately researched and understood in Türkiye. This study aimed to determine the relationship among married women’s reproductive coercion, gender role attitudes and fertility desire. The research, which employed a cross-sectional descriptive-correlational design, was conducted with 480 women aged 18 to 49 years. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, Reproductive Coercion Scale, Fertility Desire Scale and Gender Roles Attitude Scale. Analyses included descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rho correlation and path analysis. The average age of the participants was 35.65 ± 7.39, the average number of pregnancies was 2.40 ± 1.41, and the average number of births was 1.97 ± 1.05. Women’s mean score on the Reproductive Coercion Scale; 0.10 ± 0.45, the Fertility Desire Scale mean score was 58.54 ± 9.67 and the Gender Role Attitude Scale mean score was 121.92 ± 15.14. A weak positive relationship was observed between scores on the Reproductive Coercion Scale and the Fertility Desire Scale (r = 0.172;p < 0.001). Fertility Desire Scale scores were positively associated with Reproductive Coercion Scale scores (β = 0.205, p = 0.008). The women participating in the research have low reproductive coercion, moderate fertility desire and egalitarian attitudes towards gender roles. A weak but statistically significant positive association was observed between reproductive coercion and both fertility desire and gender role attitudes.