Characteristics of women who stop using contraceptives

A relatively new multivariate life-table technique has permitted the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on first-year contraceptive failure rates to be determined to a greater degree of precision than was possible in the past. This technique is employed in this article to determine the one-year rates of contraceptive discontinuation among currently married U.S. women, using data from the 1973 and 1976 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG). The results indicate that poor women, black women and younger women are all relatively more likely to stop using contraceptives for reasons other than method-switching or the desire to become pregnant, as are women who have not completed high school, Catholic women and those who have never had a birth. Of all methods, the IUD is associated with the lowest rate of discontinuation. Pill users over age 30 are more likely to stop using their method than are comparable women using the IUD, diaphragm or condom. Women relying on spermicides are generally most likely to cease using a method. Finally, the subgroups of women who are most likely to stop using a particular method also are generally the groups that are most likely to experience contraceptive failures, while those that are least likely to discontinue use are also least likely to fail. Two exceptions are women who rely on rhythm and those who use the pill. The former experience relatively high rates of failure but are relatively less likely to stop using the method, and the latter have relatively high rates of discontinuation despite a low rate of failure.