STERILIZATION AMONG CURRENTLY MARRIED MEN IN THE UNITED-STATES, 1991

Data from the 1991 National Survey of Men indicate that about 12% of m arried men aged 20-39 have had a vasectomy and about 13% are married t o a woman who is sterilized. Multivariate analyses indicate that the l ikelihood of sterilization rises with husband's age, wife's age, durat ion of marriage and number of children. Black couples are significantl y less likely than white couples to rely on sterilization, and interra cial couples are less likely than same-race couples to be sterilized. The likelihood of reliance on vasectomy rather than tubal ligation als o rises with husband's age, while black men are significantly less lik ely than white men to elect male over female sterilization. Use of mal e sterilization is strongly associated with having had a recent contra ceptive failure while using a male method.