Husband-Wife Communication, Wife's Employment, and the Decision for Male or Female Sterilization

Abstract

Using data collected for both husbands and wives from 313 couples electing voluntary steriliztion this research examines the relationship between perceptions of marital communication on the part of both husband and wife and the kind (male or female) of sterilization procedure chosen. The general hypothesis tested is that the likelihood of choosing a female procedure is negatively related to perceptions of marital communication especially among wives. The perceptions of husband and wife are also hypothesized to interact in their effects on the decision--the probability of a female procedure increasing more rapdily with decreasing assessment of communication the greater the assessment of the other spouse. This pattern is also predicted to be more characteristic of couples in which the wife does not work. Regression analyses of the data reveal support for the hypotheses. The pattern of findings indicates the importance of considering marital dynamics in analyzing the determinants and consequences of conjugal decisions regarding which spouse receives sterilization procedure. Sterilized wives often do not report as great an increase in sexual desire following surgery as do husbands a result that has been argued to reflect a relative lack of marital power that often may leave the wife with little choice but to seek female sterilization if she wants to avoid further childbearing. The present findings are congruent with this possibility but they suggest a somewhat more complicated picture of sterilization decision making. In the case of couples in which the wife does not work for example they direct attention to the ways in which wifes employment and communication patterns condition each others effects. What matters is not simply that the wife does not work but rather that her not working makes her more dependent on her husband.