The paper deals with the factors which affect contraceptive attitudes, behaviors, and the relationship between the two. The analysis is based upon original survey data from 2,446 women in Venezuela and related literature. The results suggest that both positive attitudes and contraceptive accessibility are major determinants of contraception but at the aggregate level neither has a decisive advantage over the other. The three best predictors of contraceptive use are: specific contraceptive attitudes, social support, and accessibility of contraceptives. Their impacts on behavior are direct and additive; however, their impacts vary significantly by education and number of living children. In general attitude change strategy is more effective with younger women while improving accessibility affects older women more often. Implications for policy and programs are presented.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CaplanN. and NelsonS. D., On Being Useful: The Nature and Consequences of Psychological Research on Social Problems, American Psychologist, pp. 199–211, March 1973.
2.
FreedmanR. and BerelsonB., The Record of Family Planning Programs, Studies in Family Planning, 7: 1, pp. 1–40, 1976.
3.
RavenholtR. T. and ChaoP. C., Availability of Family Planning Services—The Key to Rapid Fertility Reduction, Family Planning Perspectives, 6: 4, pp. 217–223, 1974.
4.
RavenholtR. T., Personal Communication, 1973.
5.
BlakeJ. and GuptaDas P., Reproductive Motivation Versus Contraceptive Technology, Population and Development Review, 1: 2, pp. 229–249, 1975.
6.
DemenyP., Observations on Population Policy and Population Program in Bangladesh, Population and Development Review, 1: 2, pp. 307–321, 1975.
7.
EtzioniA., Human Beings Are Not Very Easy to Change After All, Saturday Review, pp. 45–47, June 3, 1972.
8.
EtzioniA., Chapter in Population Control: For and Against, Hart Publishing Co., Inc., New York City, New York, pp. 150–163, 1973.
9.
McClellandD. C., Managing Motivation to Expand Human Freedom, American Psychologist, 33: 3, pp. 201–210, 1978.
10.
KelmanH. C., Attitudes are Alive and Well and Gainfully Employed in the Sphere of Action, American Psychologist, pp. 310–324, May 1974.
11.
DillehayR., On the Irrelevance of the Classical Negative Evidence Concerning the Effect of Attitudes on Behavior, American Psychologist, 28: 10, pp. 887–891, 1973.
12.
LaPiereR. T., Attitudes vs. Actions, Social Forces, 13, pp. 230–237, 1934.
13.
KutnerB.WilkinsC., and YarrowP. R., Verbal Attitudes and Overt Behavior Involving Racial Prejudice, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, pp. 647–652, 1952.
14.
MinardR. D., Race Relationships in Pocahontas Coalfield, Journal of Social Issues, 8, pp. 29–44, 1958.
15.
FreedmanR.HermalinA. L., and ChangM. C., Do Statements About Desired Family Size Predict Fertility? The Case of Taiwan, Demography, 12: 3, pp. 407–416, 1975.
16.
RyderN. B., A Critique of the National Fertility Study, Demography, 10: 4, pp. 495–506, 1973.
17.
CoombsL. C., The Measurement of Family Size Preferences and Subsequent Fertility, Demography, 11, pp. 587–611, 1974.
18.
CoombsC. H.CoombsL. C., and McClellandG. M., Preference Scales for Number and Sex of Children, Population Studies, 2, pp. 278–279, 1975.
19.
SchumanH. and JohnsonM. P., Attitudes and Behavior, Annual Review of Sociology, 2, pp. 161–207, 1976.
20.
FishbeinM., Towards an Understanding of Family Planning Behaviors, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2: 3, pp. 214–227, 1972.
21.
FishbeinM. and JaccardJ., Theoretical and Methodological Considerations in the Prediction of Family Planning Intentions and Behavior, Representative Research in Social Psychology, 4, pp. 37–51, 1973.
22.
FishbeinM. and AjzenJ., Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1975.
23.
ClelandJ., A Critique of KAP Studies and Some Suggestions For Their Improvement, Studies in Family Planning, 4: 2, pp. 43–47, 1973.
24.
WareH., Ideal Family Size, Occasional Paper No. 13, World Fertility Survey, London, October 1974.
25.
WestoffC. F. and RyderN. B., The Predictive Validity of Reproductive Intentions, Demography, 14: 4, pp. 431–453, 1977.
26.
BumpassL., Stability and Change in Family Size Expectations Over The First Two Years of Marriage, Journal of Social Issues, 23: 4, pp. 83–98, 1967.
27.
BumpassL. and WestoffC. F., The Prediction of Completed Fertility, Demography, 6: 4, pp. 445–454, 1969.
28.
BumpassL. and WestoffC. F., The “Perfect Contraceptive” Population, Science, 169, pp. 1177–1182, 1979.
29.
JaccardJ. and DavidsonA. R., Toward an Understanding of Family Planning Behavior: An Initial Investigation, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2: 3, pp. 228–235, 1972.
30.
WernerP. D., Implications of Attitude-Behavior Studies for Population Research and Action, Studies in Family Planning, 8: 11, pp. 294–299, 1977.
31.
BerelsonB., KAP Studies on Fertility, BerelsonB. (eds.), Family Planning and Population Programs: A Review of World Developments, University of Chicago Press, pp. 665–668, 1966.
32.
CernadaG. P. and CrawfordT. J., Some Practical Applications of Social Psychology to Family Planning Programs, FawcettJ. T. (ed.), Psychological Perspectives on Population, Basic Books, New York, pp. 428–449, 1973.
33.
KarS. B., Individual Aspirations as Related to Early and Late Acceptance of Contraception, Journal of Social Psychology, 83, pp. 235–245, 1971.
34.
KarS. B., A Model for Communication Intervention: Ethical and Scientific Dimensions, Ethics in Science and Medicine, 3: 3, pp. 149–164, 1976.
35.
KarS. B., Consistency Between Fertility Attitudes and Behavior, A Conceptual Model, Population Studies, 32: 1, 1978.
36.
KarS. B. and TalbotJ. M., Attitudinal and Non-Attitudinal Factors in Contraceptive Intentions and Actions, revised version of a paper presented at the Sixth Annual Workshop on Psychosocial Factors in Population Research, Population Association of America Meetings, Studies in Family Planning, 11: 2, pp. 51–64, 1980.
37.
WestoffC. F.PotterR. G., and SagiP. C., The Third Child, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1963.
38.
KarS. B. and Gonzalez-CerruttiR., Psychosocial Determinants of Fertility and Contraception: Report of the Baseline Survey, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Washington, D.C., 1978.
39.
KarS. B., Communication Interventions in Health and Family Planning Programmes: A Conceptual Framework, International Journal of Health Education, XX (Supplement), pp. 2–15, January-March 1977.
40.
KarS. B., Pregnancy Risk-Taking Among Young Unmarried Women, Patient Counselling and Health Education, 1: 4, pp. 151–163, 1979.
41.
GreenL. W.GustafsonH. C.GriffithsW., and YaukeyD., The Dacca Family Planning Experiment, University of California, Berkeley, 1972.
42.
HochbaumG. M., Public Participation in Medical Screening Programs: A Socio-psychological Study, Public Health Services Publication, No. 572, 1958.
