Couples and the Male Birth Control Pill: A Future Alternative in Contraceptive Selection.

Marsiglio, William; Menaghan, Elizabeth G.

Contraceptive decision making is likely to become more complex when male oral contraceptives are marketed and as sex-role preferences become more egalitarian. A mailed survey of 47 married couples selected from a newspaper "Birth Listing" column in Columbus, Ohio was used to contrast spouses' views, to assess levels of actual and perceived cow sensus among partners, and to identify predictors of greater stated likelihood of male pill usage. Modest support was found for the hypothesis that more egalitarian sex-role preferences are positively related to a greater belief in contraception as a shared responsibility, wives: r = .35, p < .01, husbands: r = .21, P < .10. No support was found, however, for the hypothesis that beliefs, in shared contraceptive responsibility would lead to greater acceptance of a male pill. Wives were also more accurate, r = .57, p < .001, than husbands, r = .21, p < .08, in perceiving their spouse's attitudes toward male pill adoption. Results suggest that researchers need to focus on the process by which contraceptive usage is negotiated and renegotiated among married couples.

MALE contraception; CONTRACEPTION; MALE oral contraceptives; BIRTH control; SEXUAL ethics; ORAL contraceptives

Journal of Sex Research, 1987, Vol 23, Issue 1, p34

0022-4499

Academic Journal

10.1080/00224498709551340