THE GENDER-ROLE AND CONTRACEPTIVE ATTITUDES OF YOUNG MEN - IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES

This research reports the contraceptive and gender role attitudes of a convenience sample of 60 working class African American youth enrolle d in discussion groups in a clinical setting in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the youth were close to both parents and received considerable par ental support. They were not, as a group, rape-prone or in favor of ab ortion. The study found that only half of the youth received ''enough' ' information about contraception from either parent. Forty-three perc ent felt that contraception was the female's responsibility and roughl y 30 percent held strong anti-condom attitudes. The three most popular contraceptive techniques were the condom, pill and condom/pill. There was a significant difference in rating of the withdrawal technique be tween those whose fathers had provided enough contraceptive informatio n and those whose fathers did not. An inverse correlation existed betw een rating of the pill and condom and rating of pregnancy as a positiv e event. Moreover, the more contraceptive information provided by the mother, the lower was the contraceptive attitudes score.