Association of access to publicly funded family planning services with adolescent birthrates in California counties.

OBJECTIVES: We examined the association of adolescent birthrates (ABRs) with access to and receipt of publicly funded family planning services in California counties provided through 2 state programs: Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, and the Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (Family PACT) program. METHODS: Our key data sources included the California Health Interview Survey and California Women's Health Survey, Medi-Cal and Family PACT claims data, and the Birth Statistical Master File. We constructed a linear regression analysis measuring the relationship of access to and receipt of family planning services with ABRs when controlling for counties' select covariates. RESULTS: The regression analysis indicated that a higher access rate to Family PACT in a county was associated with a lower ABR (B = -0.19; P < .01) when controlling for unemployment rate, percentage of foreign-born adolescents, and percentage of adult low-income births. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to reduce ABRs, specifically in counties that had persistently high rates are critical to achieving a healthy future for the state and the nation. Family PACT played a crucial role in helping adolescents avoid unintended and early childbearing.

Correlates of receiving reproductive health care services among U.S. men aged 15 to 44 years.

Men have a significant role in reproductive health decision making and behavior, including family planning and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).Yet studies on reproductive health care of men are scarce. The National Survey of Family Growth 2006-2008 provided data that allowed assessment of the predisposing, enabling, and need factors associated with men's receipt of reproductive health services in the United States. Although more than half (54%) of U.S. men received at least one health care service in the 12 months prior to the survey, far fewer had received birth control counseling/methods, including condoms (12%) and STD/HIV testing/STD treatment (12%). Men with publicly funded health insurance and men who received physical exam were more likely to receive reproductive health services when compared with men with private health insurance and men who did not receive a physical exam. Men who reported religion was somewhat important were significantly more likely to receive birth control counseling/ methods than men who stated religion was very important. The pseudo-R (2) (54%), a measure of model fit improvement, suggested that enabling factors accounted for the strongest association with receiving either birth control counseling/ methods or STD/HIV testing/STD treatment.