Men's perceptions of their roles and responsibilities regarding sex, contraception and childrearing

Abstract

Data from the 1991 National Survey of Men examine men's perceptions about their roles in relation to those of women in a couple's decision-making about sex, contraception and the rearing of children. A majority of men (61%) perceive that there is gender quality in sexual decision-making, and more than three-quarters (78%) believe that men and women share equal responsibility for decisions about contraception. However, men are three times as likely to say that women play a greater role in a couple's decisions about sex as they are to believe that men have the greater voice (30% compared with 9%). In contrast, men are more than twice as likely to perceive than men have a greater responsibility in contraceptive decisions as they are to say that women do (15% compared with 7%). Finally, 88% of men strongly agree that a man has the same responsibilities as a woman for the children they have together.

PIP: Despite the importance of male participation in efforts to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, there has been little research on men's perceptions of their role in decision making about sex and contraception. To address this void, data on the 2526 (958 Black and 1568 White) men who were in a heterosexual relationship at the time of the 1991 US National Survey of Men interview were analyzed. 66% of these men were married and 11% were cohabiting. Respondents were asked to indicate the strength of their agreement with five statements: it is generally the man who decides whether or not the couple will have sex; it is generally the woman who decides whether or not the couple will have sex; it is a woman's responsibility to make decisions about using birth control; it is a man's responsibility to make decisions about using birth control; and men have the same responsibility as women for the children they father. Gender equality was favored by 60.8% of men in decisions about whether the couple will have sex, by 78.2% in decisions about contraception, and by 87% for child raising responsibilities. Men with nonegalitarian orientations were three times as likely to perceive females as opposed to males as dominating decisions about the timing of sex (30% and 9%, respectively). On the other hand, they were twice as likely to believe that men have greater responsibility than women in contraceptive decisions (15% and 7%, respectively). Men who felt women should bear primary responsibility for contraception were significantly more likely to be older, Black, have a Hispanic partner, be less educated, or have a highly educated partner than those with an egalitarian orientation.