Factores socioculturales asociados con el uso de contraceptivos en Puerto Rico / Sociocultural factors associated with the contraceptive use in Puerto Rico

ABSTRACT

A survey of family planning practices in Puerto Rico was conducted in 1982. Based on interviews with women 15-49 years old, the survey included 3 175 women who constituted a representative stratified sample of the Puerto Rican population. Information was obtained about each subject's history of pregnancies, married life, contraceptive use, fertility, maternal and child health, breast-feeding, migration, education, employment, and attitude toward abortion. The survey indicated that 45.7 per cent of all Puerto Rican women 15-45 years old and 70 per cent of all married women in this age range were using contraception in 1982. Sterilization (principally female sterilization) was the most common method, being used by 42.6 per cent of the married interview subjects. The pill and other reversible methods tended to be more popular among the younger women, with sterilization becoming markedly more common among older age groups and among women with two or more children. Sterilization was also used by a higher percentage of maried women who had not finished high school, who had been born in Puerto Rico, and who had grown up in Puerto Rico. Neither religion nor employment appeared to exert much influence on sterilization or other contraceptive practices. The prevalence of female sterilization was considerably higher than that found in the United States in 1983, while the prevalence for male sterilization