Trends in contraceptive practice: United States, 1965-76.

Abstract

This report presents statistics from surveys on the contraceptive practice of currently married women 15-44 years of age in the US in 1965 1973 and 1976 according to various socioeconomic characteristics. Findings are presented in terms of use of contraception (contraceptive status) and couples using contraception (contraceptors) according to the method used. Changes in contraceptive status during 1965-1976 were small compared with the changes in the methods used among contraceptors. The percent of couples using contraception at the date of interview increased from 63% in 1965 to 68% in 1976. In all 3 survey years black wives were less likely than white wives to have been using contraception. In 1965 white Catholic couples were less likely to be using contraception than white Protestant couples (57% compared with 67%). By 1976 this difference virtually had disappeared (68% compared with 69%). During 1965-1973 an increasing proportion of couples using contraception adopted methods that did not exist or rarely were used before 1960: the oral contraceptive (OC) the IUD and male or female sterilization. From 1973-1976 this trend did not continue. The percent of contraceptors using OCs decreased slightly and the percent using the IUD remained about the same. Sterilization increased substantially among white Protestant couples while the use of methods other than OC IUD and sterilization increased among black couples. In 1965 the OC and condom each were used by approximately 1 in 4 couples using contraception. OCs were the leading method among wives 15-29 years of age in 1965 (41%); the condom was the leading method among contraceptors 30-44 years of age in 1965 (24%). By 1973 and 1976 OCs were used by more than half of the contraceptors 15-29 years of age and sterilization became the leading method among contraceptors 30-44 years of age. The proportion of contraceptors 30-44 using the condom declined to 12% by 1976. The percent of the younger black contraceptors (15-29 years) using OCs doubled from 31% in 1965 to 64% in 1973. Among white contraceptors sterilization was about evenly divided between male and female operations but among black contraceptors male sterilization was relatively rare.