Male Contraceptive Methods: Prevalence, Trend, and Associated Socioeconomic Factors

Introduction Family planning programs have an important impact on lower fertility, especially in developing countries (1). Data published by the United Nations (UN) (2) indicate that the rate of using contraceptive methods has increased over the last decades in most of the countries. Employing these methods among 15 to 49-year-old married women increased in various countries including Japan (from 19.5% to 54.3% during 1950-2005), Thailand (from 14.8% to 79.3% during 1970-2012), Morocco (from 19.4% to 67.4% during 1980-2010), and the United States (from 58.8% to 74.1% during 1955-2011). Different ways of contraception are available of which couples can choose a method based on their conditions. They are generally divided into traditional and modern methods and the UN periodically publishes the statistics of using these methods. Male and female sterilization, pills, injections, Norplant, Intrauterine device (IUD), as well as male and female condoms are considered the main modern methods and withdrawal and rhythm are among the main traditional methods. In addition, previous data demonstrate that with the prevalence of contraceptives, women are regarded as major users. However, in recent decades and with wider involvement of men in family planning, the ratio of using the so-called male contraceptive methods including male sterilization, condom, withdrawal, and rhythm gradually increased. Further, its using ratio approximated to or exceeded the use of female contraceptive methods in some countries. For instance, 55.1 % of the total used methods among the Spanish couples were related to the male methods in 2006. Furthermore, this ratio increased to 64.1%, 80%, 84.3%, and 89.7% in Ukraine (2012), the Netherlands (1991), Greece (1997), and Serbia (2014), respectively (3). Involving in reproductive health-related issues is an essential strategy which is in line with limiting the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and AIDS (4) and reducing the unintended pregnancies (5). Men’s involvement in family planning and the use of male contraceptive methods are indicators of social development, gender equality, and breaking gender taboos. However, this active involvement is accompanied by several issues and challenges. The most important issue is that withdrawal and condom, as the main male contraceptive methods, have a high rate of failure and lead to various unintended pregnancies and abortion among the users. Unintended pregnancy has numerous severe Abstract Objectives: In recent years, using male contraceptive methods has exceeded those of the female in several societies due to the increasing involvement of men in family planning. Hence, the present study divided the contraceptive methods into male and female methods and examined the prevalence, trend, and socioeconomic factors associated with using male methods. Materials and Methods: The population of this cross-sectional survey included all married men and women in Tehran out of whom 1272 samples with a 49-year-old woman or younger in their households were selected by the multistage cluster sampling technique. Data were analyzed by Cramer’s V, phi and logistic regression tests using SPSS version 21. Results: Based on the results, about three-fourths of the families in Tehran used male contraceptive methods. In addition, the results revealed that using male contraceptive methods has increased over the last 2 decades. In other words, using a condom, as a contraceptive method, increased among the married men while withdrawal decreased. Multivariate analysis indicated that the use of male contraceptive methods was more prevalent among younger, more educated, as well as less religious people and those with egalitarian gender attitudes. Conclusions: Generally speaking, knowledge of failure rate of male contraceptive methods, teaching the side-effects of female methods, and greater familiarity of families with emergency contraceptive pills are essential.