Study Finds Condom Use Is Increasing

The latest data from CDC's National Survey of Family Growth show that 99 percent of sexually experienced women ages 15 to 44 have used some form of contraception.

Contraceptive use at first premarital sex increased to 84 percent during 2006-08, compared with 56 percent before 1985. Much of this increase was related to condom use, which rose from 34 percent before 1985 to 72 percent in 2005-08, the report says. "Use at first premarital intercourse is important because 94 percent of women ages 15-44 have had premarital intercourse," it notes.

Among women whose mothers had a college education, contraceptive use at sexual debut was 84 percent, compared with 53 percent among women whose mothers did not finish high school. Most of the difference was in condom use (68 percent vs. 37 percent).

By rank, reasons for not using contraception among women who had a recent unintended birth were: 43.9 percent did not think they could get pregnant; 22.8 percent did not mind getting pregnant; 16.2 percent worried about birth control side effects; 14.1 percent did not expect to have sex; 9.6 percent had male partners who did not want to use birth control; and 7.3 percent had male partners who did not want them to use contraception.

"There are some pieces of good news in here," said Bill Mosher, a statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics. Nonetheless, "what struck me was how persistent some of these patterns are. And that they're different from some other countries," he said.

The full report including country comparisons, "Use of Contraception in the United States: 1982-2008," was published in Vital and Health Statistics (2010;series 23(9)).

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