Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-10T06:00:54.291Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sterilisation as a Method of Contraception: Recent Trends in Great Britain and their Implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

M. Murphy
M. Murphy
Affiliation:
London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Data on patterns and trends in sterilisation in Britain among women, men and couples are presented using life table approaches with data from a national survey, the General Household Survey. Among couples under age 50, sterilisation is the main method of contraception used, with slightly more women than men being sterilised, although this is reversed if only contraceptive sterilisation is considered. Trends in contraception have remained relatively constant in recent decades. Patterns of sterilisation differ following births of different orders. For example, the resort to sterilisation is much quicker after a third birth than after a second. The proportions of men and women who have been sterilised and then formed a subsequent partnership are very small, so the effect of sterilisation in preventing births in such unions is negligible.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 31 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bone, M. (1973) Family Planning Services in England and Wales. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Bumpass, L. (1987) The risk of an unwanted birth: the changing context of contraceptive sterilization in the US. Popul. Stud. 41, 347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunnell, K. (1979) Family Formation 1976. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
de Guibert-Lantoine, C. (1990) Révolutions contraceptives au Canada. Population, 452, 361.Google Scholar
Hunt, K. & Annandale, E. (1990) Predicting contraceptive method usage among women in West Scotland. J. biosoc. Sci. 22, 405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Langford, C. M. (1991) Birth control practice in Great Britain: a review of the evidence from cross-sectional surveys. In: Population Research in Britain, p. 49. Supplement to Population Studies No. 45. Edited by Murphy, M. & Hobcraft, J.. Population Investigation Committee, London.Google Scholar
Murphy, M. (1993) The contraceptive pill and women's employment as factors in fertility change in Britain 1963–1980: a challenge to the conventional view. Popul. Stud. 47, 221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OPCS (1985) General Household Survey 1983. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
OPCS (1989) General Household Survey 1986. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
OPCS (1991) General Household Survey 1989. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
OPCS (1993a) General Household Survey 1991. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
OPCS (1993b) Population Trends. Autumn 1993. HM Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Parker-Mauldin, W. & Segal, J. S. (1988) Prevalence of contraceptive use: trends and issues. Stud. Fam. Plann. 6, 335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollack, A. E. (1993a) Male and female sterilization: long-term health consequences. Outlook, 11, 1.Google Scholar
Pollack, A. E. (1993b) Vasectomy and prostate cancer. Adv. Contraception, 9, 181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rindfuss, R. & Liao, F. (1988) Medical and contraceptive reasons for sterilization in the United States. Stud Fam. Plann. 6, 370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. P. (1980) Life Table Analysis. WFS Technical Bulletin No. 6. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Toulemon, L. & Leridon, H. (1991) Vingt années de contraception en France: 1968–1988. Population, 45, 777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations (1976) Fertility and Family Planning in Europe around 1970. Population Studies 58. UN, New York.Google Scholar