In 1979 survey among sexually active unmarried black adolescents from Chicago found that 28 percent of the young women and 18 percent of the young men used a contraceptive at first intercourse. Statistically significant differences in such contraceptive use among teenage women were found for three social and environmental characteristics: social class, parents' marital status and neighborhood quality. Thus, 41 percent of the young women from the highest social class used contraceptives at first intercourse, but only 17 percent of those from the lowest class did so. The proportions were 35 percent for young women from neighborhoods of high socioeconomic status and 17 percent for those from ghetto neighborhoods. Thirty-six percent of teenage women whose parents had intact marriages as of the adolescent's 11th birthday used contraceptives at first intercourse, compared with 23 percent of those from single-parent and divorced families. Among males, social class was the only one of these three characteristics that was statistically significant; 32 percent of adolescents from the highest class and 11 percent from the lowest practiced contraception at first intercourse. For teenagers of both sexes, career aspirations were of marginal statistical significance in the practice of contraception. Thirty-six percent of young women with high aspirations used contraceptives at first intercourse and 19 percent of those with low aspirations did so. Only four percent of the young men with low career aspirations used contraceptives, compared with 25 percent of those with high aspirations. Number of siblings, parental supervision of dating and having a sister who had become a teenage mother showed no association with contraceptive use.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
PIP: A survey of 348 sexually active unmarried black females and 124 similar black males conducted in Chicago in 1979 found significant differences in contraceptive use at 1st intercourse among females, depending on 3 social and environmental characteristics. Thus, 41% of the young women from the highest social class used contraceptives at 1st intercourse, but only 17% of those from the lowest class did so. The proportions were 35% for young women from neighborhoods of high socioeconomic status and 17% for those from ghetto neighborhoods. 36% of the teenage women whose parents had intact marriages used contraceptives, compared with 23% of those from single-parent and divorced families. The survey, limited to adolescents ages 13 through 19, found that, among black males, social class was the only one of the 3 characteristics that was statistically significant: 32% of the adolescent males from the highest class practiced contraception at 1st intercourse, while only 11% from the lowest class did so. Overall rates of contraceptive use at 1st intercourse were lower among males (18%) than among females (28%). 25% of the teenage women who did not practice contraception the 1st time did so the 2nd time, and 47% of those who did not practice contraception the 2nd time were practicing by the time of most recent intercourse. Social and environmental variables were found to affect contraceptive preparedness at 1st intercourse only, and not subsequent initiation of contraceptive practice. For teenagers of both sexes, career aspirations were of marginal statistical significance in the practice of contraception.