Birth Control and Low-Income Mexican-American Women: The Impact of Three Values

Abstract

Nineth-nine Mexican-American women who were identified as either high or low acculturated responded to questionnaires assessing the relationship between birth control attitudes, knowledge, and usage, and the values ascribed to motherhood, male dominance, and sexual expression. Using a multiple regression analysis, a significant positive relationship was found for both high and low acculturated women with respect to their attitudes toward birth control and the values ascribed to motherhood, male dominance, and sexual expression. Relative to birth control use, a significant positive relationship was found between this variable and the values ascribed to motherhood, male dominance, and sexual expression for the low but ntot the high acculturated women. Finallh, no significant relationship was found between birth control knowledge and the aforementioned values. It should be noted that the differences between the low and high acculturated women persisted even while holding their socioeconomic level constant.

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