Abstract

PIP: Data from the 1965 and 1970 National Fertility Studies (NFS), conducted under contract with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, were compared. It was found that coital frequency has increased for married women living with husbands in the 1965-1970 period. The increase was true for all groups of women, nonusers of contraception as well as users. This finding disproves the hypothesis that the increase in coital frequency is due to an increase in the proportion of women using oral contraceptives. The highest frequencies of coitus are correlated with effectiveness of contraception. Women using the pill or and IUD or whose husbands have had a vasectomy reported higher frequencies of coitus. Female-oriented and coitus-independent methods were also associated with higher levels of coitus. Women with more education, those holding more "modern" attitudes of sex roles, and those employed for career rather than economic reasons, had coitus more often than other women. Part of this general increase in coital frequency can be attributed to a greater availability of legal abortion.