Objective  To explore the association of conjugal decision-making style with satisfaction to adopted contraceptive method among married childbearing women and to provide references for efficient contraception service under ‘universal two-child’ policy in China.

  Methods  The information on 15 654 married women aged between 15 and 49 years were extracted from the dataset of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Surveys in 2001. We described the distribution of contraception decision makers and satisfaction to contraceptive methods of the women and analyzed the correlation between conjugal decision-making style and satisfaction to adopted contraceptive method among the women using binary-logistic regression.

  Results  Of the married women, 79.87% reported satisfaction to the contraceptive method adopted. The satisfaction to the selected contraceptive method differed significantly by decision makers among the women. Compared to the women using the method codetermined by the couples, the women were more likely to be satisfied to the method determined by themselves (odds ratio OR = 1.13, 95% confidence interval 95% CI: 1.02 – 1.24), but less likely to be satisfied to the method determined by their husbands (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.54 – 0.93). There was an urban-rural disparity in the association between decision-making style and the satisfaction to contraception method among the women.

  Conclusion  The married women of childbearing age are more satisfied to the contraception methods determined by themselves or by themselves and their husbands. The results should be concerned in reproductive health service after the implementation of ‘universal two-child’ policy in China.