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Voluntary childlessness and contraception: problems and practices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Frances Baum
Frances Baum
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Nottingham
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Summary

The attitudes of 38 voluntarily childless husbands and wives towards contraception were studied. The couples used a range of birth control methods, the most popular being the pill. Although sterilization appears to be the optimal method of contraception for couples who do not want children, several disincentives to it were mentioned. Broadly these are the finality of surgical sterilization, the dislike some individuals have for undergoing surgery and the opposition individuals anticipate meeting to a request for surgery from their GP or a consultant. Overall, contraception presents at least as many problems to childless couples as it does to parents. Some problems are unique to the childless, resulting from the continuity and length of time of birth control.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , January 1982 , pp. 17 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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