Sex-role attitudes as predictors of contraceptive use among unmarried university students

Through a review of existing theory and research a set of propositions explaining contraceptive behavior among unmarried young women was developed. The paper tests the propositions with survey research data drawn from a stratified random sample of male and female students at a large Midwestern university. Findings suggest that nontraditional sex-role-related attitudes in conjunction with an internal locus of control orientation are predictive of effective contraception for women respondents. Neither variable alone or jointly explained contraceptive behavior of men respondents.Revised version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations, Salt Lake City, August 20–23, 1975. The research upon which this paper is based was performed pursuant to National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. RO3 MH26526-01. The author wishes to acknowledge the Bowling Green State University Faculty Research Committee and the Department of Sociology for their assistance in the early stages of this study.