Young Women's Medication Beliefs and Social Disparities in Contraceptive Use

• In Event: 322 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 12. Reproduction

Abstract

Young women who are socioeconomically disadvantaged and/or belong to racial minority groups are disproportionately likely to experience an unintended pregnancy. Nearly half of all unintended pregnancies in the United States occur to women using contraception, indicating that many women who wish to avoid pregnancy do not consistently use highly effective contraceptive methods. Demographic research on contraceptive behavior has traditionally focused on fertility intentions, the relationship context of sexual intercourse, and unequal access to the more effective (and expensive) hormonal methods. Research within medical sociology and public health has demonstrated a link between patients’ beliefs about the safety and necessity of medications and their medication adherence—attitudes which may constitute another type of barrier to the use of hormonal contraception, but have received far less attention from fertility scholars.
Using new data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life study (RDSL), I investigate the relationship between young women’s beliefs about the safety of hormonal contraception and their use of specific contraceptive methods over a period of 30 months. I find that women who believe that hormonal contraception involves serious health risks are more likely to rely on condoms and less likely to use oral contraceptive pills and other, more long-acting hormonal methods. Moreover, the greater prevalence of these beliefs among low-income women and Black women accounts for some (though not all) of the socioeconomic and racial differences observed in the use of particular contraceptive methods, differences with significant implications for the risk of unintended pregnancy.

Author

• Elizabeth Jane Ela, University of Michigan