Contaceptive Use Essay, Research Paper

CONTRACEPTIVE USE AT FIRST INTERCOURSE

The 1995 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) report on Contraceptive Use at First Intercourse presented tables of data based on women population 15 to 44 years of age in the U.S. who had voluntary premarital intercourse. The tables illustrate percentages of women that used contraceptives and selected methods of contraceptives during first time intercourse. This information is broken down by age, race and Hispanic origin, and year of first intercourse.

The data indicates that in general contraceptive use during first time intercourse increases with age. As illustrated in the age group table, only 51.4 percent of teenagers under 16 years of age used contraceptives during first time intercourse as opposed to 65.6 percent of women 20 years of age and over. There was however, a slight decrease in percentage from 61.5 to 60.0 percent in women 18 to 19 years of age, respectively.

In terms of race, the overall trend indicates that Hispanic women were the group least likely to use contraceptives during first time intercourse. In comparison to non-Hispanic white 64.8 percent, and non-Hispanic black 50.1 percent, only 36.2 percent of Hispanic women used contraception. This trend is supported by data based on first time intercourse between 1990 to 1995 for women grouped by race under 20 years of age, and over 20 years of age. The data illustrates that 52.8 percent of Hispanic women under 20 used contraception, and over the age of 20 there was an increase to 53.7 percent. The data on black women under 20 years of age; 72.1 percent, and over 20 years of age; 72.4 percent. But, when comparing this data to white women, the gap between white and Hispanic women increases even further. White women under 20 years of age; 83.0 percent, and over 20 years of age; 81.5 percent. This raw data, unfortunately, does not give any indication of subgroups within each race group and their socioeconomic status that may help to explain these gaps among women. But, this data does present the basis for further studies to explain why such gaps exist.

The trend of contraception use at first intercourse has increased over time. Since before 1980, contraception use steadily increased from 50.2 percent to 75.9 percent in 1995. Women in general, 59.0 percent, including other races and origin groups not included in the report, used contraceptives during first time intercourse. Also, in general for all women under 20 years of age, from 1990 to 1995, the most common method of contraception used during first time intercourse was the condom by 60.4 percent of the population sample. The second was the pill by 11.3 percent. However, there was a significant shift from the use of condoms for women under 20 years of age to the pill for women over the age of 20. The condom contraception method dropped to 32.9 percent and the pill method increased to 30.6 percent.

In terms of specific race, the same trend occurred. According to the 1990 to 1995 data, the condom was the most common contraception method during first time intercourse by white, black, and Hispanic women under 20 years of age. But, for women over 20 years of age, there was an increase in the use of the pill and a drop in condom use during first time intercourse. Despite the drop, the condom remained as the most common contraception method used by black and Hispanic women over 20 years of age. But, for white women over the age of 20, the pill was used 39.9 percent as opposed to only 33.3 percent of the condom method.

The method of contraceptive use has changed dramatically over time. Before 1980, only 18.3 percent of women used condoms during first time intercourse, and 19.9 percent used the pill. From 1985 to 1989, the use of condoms doubled to 36.4 percent, and the use of the pill remained relatively the same. The contraceptive methods continued to shift between 1990 to 1995. By this time, 54.3 percent of women used condoms as opposed to 15.5 percent use of the pill during first time intercourse. An explanation for this shift may be due to the AIDS epidemic in the early 80’s and AIDS awareness which forced society to speak openly about safe sex and practice safer methods of contraception.