A modified cluster sample of 1498 women aged 15-49 who had experienced at least one pregnancy in areas served by 6 family planning clinics in Costa Rica was studied in 1970 to identify demographic social sexual experience/knowledge and psychological factors related to clinic utilization. Older women who as a group have the highest parity were less likely to be clinic attenders. White women in urban and rural areas had higher rates of attendance. Women with more positive attitudes towards family planning and lower income women were more likely to be clinic attenders. Women more favorable to birth control who have a strong belief in their ability to control their own destiny and who have a more favorable attitude toward the various aspects of family planning were more likely to remain active in the family planning clinics. For all groups the health and medical examination aspects of family planning those items concerned with the fact that clinics are free and that women have to wait too long to be seen showed the highest proportion of women with negative responses. Pregnancy primarily from contraceptive failure was the most important reason for dropping out. The second was health reasons (fear contraceptives will cause cancer or other illnesses) followed by fear of contraception medical examination or the method unsuitable for the respondent. The general results suggest that fears and negative experiences relating to contraceptive failure are more important than the characteristics of the women themselves in predicting clinic dropouts.