Rural and urban Midwestern United States contraception practices

To address a paucity of demographic data on rural United States contracepti on practices, 370 randomly selected menstruating women, age 13-55 years, li ving in rural and urban Illinois and Missouri answered interview questions. Women with relatively few children and living in urban areas were likely t o practice contraception more than those with relatively few children and l iving in rural areas, p < 0.01. In Illinois, more rural (23%) than urban (2 %) women chose sterilization, p < 0.01. Single status was more frequent in Chicago (41%) and rural Missouri (32%) than in rural Illinois (19%), p < 0. 002, and extant research links single status with risk for HIV and other se xually transmitted diseases (STDs). Condom use did not differ significantly by locale, p > 0.05. Urban-rural differences in contraception practices ma y be a function of life style choices (e.g. urban women may practice contra ception to postpone having children, whereas rural women may practice contr aception to prevent having more children after families are complete). Resu lts do not strongly support that locale differences in contraception practi ces are a function of concern about contracting STDs. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sci ence Inc. All rights reserved.