Contraceptive Patterns of Religious and Racial Groups in the United States, 1955-76: Convergence and Distinctiveness

Abstract

A number of studies have reported data on contraceptive use among white Protestant and white Catholic couples in the United States, but this paper is the first to study a large sample of couples with other or no religious affiliation, as well as black couples by religion, using multivariate controls. Using a nationally representative sample of 14,000 married women aged 15-44, we find convergence among white Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish couples in contraceptive patterns between 1955 and the mid-1970s, but large differences remained at the latter date, even after multivariate controls. Among black couples, differences by religious affiliation are smaller, but differences between white and black couples within religion categories are substantial. We conclude that religious differences are not artifacts of an incomplete demographic transition, and that religious affiliation is an indispensable datum for understanding contraceptive choice in the United States.