Those Hispanic women who had two or more sex partners in the last year
and those who had been taking birth control pills for less than six months
were also more likely to use the pills inconsistently, according to the
Health Education and Behavior study.
However, women who were regular churchgoers were less likely to miss taking
the pills, say Win Brown, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan and colleagues.
Attitudes about working women and church attendance had significant effects
on contraceptive use among women who spoke Spanish as their primary language
only, the researchers discovered.
“This finding supports the idea that low acculturation reinforces
attitudes or beliefs that are constraints to contraceptive use,” Brown
and colleagues say.
The researchers began their study of possible cultural effects on birth
control use after a 1995 survey showed that Hispanic women were more than
twice as likely as other women to use birth control pills inconsistently.
“This is significant because Hispanic women are more likely than
other women to rely on the pill to prevent pregnancy, and more than 30
percent of recent births to Hispanic women are characterized as unplanned,” Brown
and colleagues say.
The researchers analyzed survey data from a nationwide
study for 164 Hispanic women who had used birth control pills and who
were sexually active.
Women in the study were considered “inconsistent” contraceptive
users if they missed two or more pills during the last three months.
Women who had their first sexual intercourse before age 15 were more likely
to be inconsistent pill users, while those who reported having sex four
or more times a week were more apt to use the pill consistently. Brown
and colleagues also found that women who lived alone or with non-family
members rather than family were also more likely to be consistent pill
users.
The study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
