Factors associated with married women's selection of tubal sterilization and vasectomy

Multivariate analyses of data from 248 married women scheduled for tubal sterilization and 165 wives of men scheduled for vasectomy indicated that male and female sterilization methods were selected for different reasons and under different circumstances. More specifically, the woman who underwent tubal sterilization was more likely to have perceived that she had greater influence than her husband over the sterilization decision, to have had cesarean section or vaginal delivery in association with sterilization, to have chosen tubal ligation because her spouse refused to undergo the alternative procedure or because it was convenient to combine it with delivery or other surgery, and to have had a spouse who was unwilling to be sterilized because of possible side effects associated with vasectomy. The woman whose husband underwent vasectomy was more likely to have been very fearful of surgery in general or especially fearful of reproductive surgery, to have known many men who already had had a vasectomy, to have perceived that her husband was more strongly motivated than herself to terminate childbearing, to have had a spouse who participated in birth control, and to have chosen vasectomy because it was easier or less expensive or because her physician advised against tubal sterilization.