Failure to use contraception is a critical problem among American youth, since sexual activity is common, and illegitimacy and abortion rates are high among young women. This study investigates the relative influences of parents, peers, and partners on the contraceptive use of college men and women. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by a nonprobability, purposive sample of 434 never-married, sexually active males and females between the ages of 17 and 22 years. Path analyses revealed that the effects of involvement with partner, sexual exclusivity and frequency of intercourse on contraceptive use are mostly indirect via influence from partner. Among males, partner influence emerged as a strong and singular contributor to contraceptive use. Involvement with partner was significantly and inversely related to contraceptive use unless the influence from partner intervened. Among females, a more complex pattern emerged, suggesting that young women are oriented toward partner and friends, and the source of influence is related to extent of involvement with the sexual partner. Parents did not significantly influence contraceptive use. Overall, the models presented accounted for 31 percent of the variance in contraceptive use for females and 34 percent for males.
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