Influence of socially shared traditional beliefs on contraceptive behavior
Areni, A.; Mannetti, L.; Sabino, G.
Contraception Fertilite Sexualite 14(3): 235-245
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0301-861X PMID: 12268060 Document Number: 275646
This study uses factor analysis to analyze whether in Italy it is possible to differentiate women at greater risk of unwanted pregnancy from those using effective contraception on the basis of their degree of adherence to traditional definitions of the role of women as centered on motherhood, their degree of aversion to use of highly effective contraceptive methods, the positiveness or negativeness of their self-image, and their self-image, and their perception of the locus of control of personal behavior as external or internal. 164 middle-class women aged 15-40 residing in Rome who attended a family planning center were studied through questionnaires completed at the initial interview. Subjects were classified into 4 groups depending on the degree of effectiveness of their past and present contraceptive methods: permanent security, decreased security, increased security, and permanant insecurity. They were also classified according to whether or not they had ever undergone elective abortion. A favorable attitude toward effective contraceptive methods and their use was clearly associated with rejection of the traditional model of women. Subjects who had never resorted to voluntary abortion had a low adherence to traditional sex roles. The greatest degree of traditionalism was found among women using coitus interruptus, while the least traditional women were those using diaphragms. 3 subgroups were distinguished on the basis of traditionalism or nontraditionalism and positive or negative perception of personal efficacy. In a group of 67 essentially nontraditional women who used reliable contraceptive methods, 64.2% were aged 20-29 and 76.1% had higher education. 59.7% of the group had never had an abortion compared with 45.7% of the complete sample. Among 33 women with traditional sex role orientations and positive perceptions of their personal efficacy, the choice of contraceptive tended toward somewhat reliable methods such as condoms and the use of voluntary abortion was about average for the sample as a whole. 66.7% of the women had not attended school beyond the primary level and 54.5% were married. The 51 women in the 3rd group had traditional sex role orientations and they also had negative perceptions of their personal efficacy. They tended to be older than women in the other groups and their contraceptive methods were the least effective. 70.6% had undergone voluntary abortions compared with 54.3% of the sample as a whole.