HOW RELATIONSHIPS OF US MEN AFFECT CONTRACEPTIVE USE AND EFFORTS TO PREVENT SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES

Context: Comparatively little is known about how U.S. adult men's atti tudes and characteristics influence their decision to use contraceptiv es to prevent pregnancy and to fake actions to protect themselves from infection with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Methods: Attitud inal and background data on 1,595 men from the 1991 and 1993 waves of the National Survey of Men (NSM) were used. through logistic regressio n techniques, to predict the likelihood of current contraceptive use t o prevent pregnancy and recent efforts to avoid STD infection among me n in three types of sexual relationships-marriage, cohabitation and da ting. Results: At the 1993 interview, 58% of men were using contracept ives to prevent pregnancy and 22% had recently taken actions to prefec t themselves from STDs. Men's concern about how easy a method was to u se reduced the likelihood of STD protection. but had no influence on c ontraceptive use to prevent pregnancy; however, concerns about a metho d's risks to the female partner increased the likelihood of both outco mes. Couples in which the man expected his partner to take primary res ponsibility for contraception were 40% as likely to be protecting them selves against STDs as were couples in which the man believed he share d or had greater responsibility. Married men were the least likely to be protecting themselves against STDs, whereas men who were dating wer e the most likely to do so. Conclusions: Men's attitudes and character istics were important predictors of contraceptive use to prevent pregn ancy and of efforts to protect against STDs, even after controls for t he female partner's characteristics were entered in the analysis The f indings emphasize the need to include men in interventions aimed at re ducing unintended pregnancy and STD transmission.