Teen sexual partnerships and contraceptive use

Current quantitative research on teen contraceptive use focuses on knowledge about and attitudes toward contraception instead of how different aspects of sexual partnerships may influence the decision to use contraception and if so, what form of contraception. Drawing from the findings of qualitative research, I examined how different characteristics such as intimacy, length of a relationship, and type of relationship might influence the decision to use condoms, non-condom contraception, or no contraception. I also examined how these aspects might influence the decision to change from one form of contraception from the one chosen the first time a couple had intercourse. Using data from the Philadelphia Educational Longitudinal Study, I found that teens rely heavily on condoms for contraception and that characteristics associated with more serious relationships are related to not using condoms generally and at most recent intercourse. Very few teens in my sample relied on non-condom forms of contraception making it difficult to determine whether teens begin to switch from condoms to non-condom forms of contraception as their relationships progress. In the analysis, characteristics associated with more serious relationships were not associated with higher levels of non-condom contraceptive use. While overall use of contraception (combined condom and non-condom forms of contraception) was high, significant numbers of teens did not use any contraception at most recent intercourse raising questions about how current approaches to sex education could be modified to address relationship issues