Table 1.

Individual, household and community variables used in modeling adolescent modern contraceptive use in Zimbabwe

	Operational definition and coding
Individual and household variables
• Age	• Self-reported age of respondent at the time of the survey [15 to 17 Years/18 to 19 Years]
• Marital status	• Marital status of respondent [(Never Married; Ever Married (married/separated/divorced/widowed)]
• Age difference with partner/spouse	• The absolute difference between the self-reported age of respondent and the given age of the husband/spouse/partner [Large; Small or None]
• Parity	• Number of Children ever given birth [None; One or more]
• Education	• Highest Level of Education attained [None/Primary; Secondary or Higher]
• Religious affiliation	• Self-reported Religious Group [Protestant/Pentecostal, Traditional/Apostolic Sect, Catholics/Muslim/Other/None]
• Residence	• Current Place of Residence [Urban; Rural]
• Media access	• A composite variable derived from the frequency of access to newspaper/magazine, radio and television [No Access, Medium Access, High Access]
• Household wealth index	• A composite index of household possessions, assets and amenities [Low, Medium, High]
• Level of autonomy	• A composite variable showing woman’s participation in household decision making on health care, large household purchases, daily household purchases and mobility (visiting families and relatives) [Low Autonomy; High Autonomy]
Community level
• Quality of health care index per province	• A composite index of the mean number of reproductive health services in the Province provided to women
• Provincial level of access to health care	• Proportion of Women in the Province experiencing at least one problem accessing health care
• Mean number of children per province	• Mean Number of Children ever born per woman in the Province
• Province level of women educational attainment	• Mean Number of Years of Female Education per women in the Province
• Province level of female with at least secondary education attainment	• Proportion of Women in the Province with at least secondary education
• Province level of approval of contraceptive use	• Proportion of women in the Province with partners approving of use of contraception
• Province level of contraceptive use	• Contraceptive Prevalence Rate in the Province
• Province level of ANC attendance	• Proportion of Women in the Province Accessing ANC at Least Once
• Province level of health facility use for delivery	• Proportion of Women in the Province who Delivered their Last Child in a Health Facility
Province level of women labour force participation	• Proportion of Women in the Province Participating in Labor Force