Educational level and contraceptive practice in three different female
populations
G. Galazios (1), P. Tsikouras (2) K. Dafopoulos (1), N. Koutlaki (1), V.
Liberis (1), A.T. Teichmann (2) and G. Maroulis (1)
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Demokritus University of Thrace
(1), Greece; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aschaffenburg, Germany
(2)
Introduction: The educational and socioeconomic level seem to
influence the contraceptive behavior.
Aims and Methods: To test the hypothesis that attitudes towards the
female contraceptive practice depend on the educational level, we conducted a
retrospective study on representatives of three different subgroups in Greece
and Germany: 127 Orthodox Christians and 120 Muslim habitants (group 1 and 2) of
Thrace, a rural area in Greece, and 150 Muslim habitants (group 3) of Berlin, an
urban area in Germany. The women were reasonably representatives in terms of age,
religion and education. Interviews covered sexual history and contraceptive use
in detail. Statistical analysis was performed using one way analysis of variance
(ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s test, chi-square test and multiple logistic
regression analysis.
Results: There was a significant difference in the distribution of the
three levels of education between the three groups (chisquare =17.3, degrees of
freedom=4, p=0.002). Regarding the method or combination of methods practiced by
the 3 groups, a significant difference was also found (chi-square =43.85,
degrees of freedom=24, p=0.008). This significant difference is probably caused
due to the high proportion of condom use (50.8%) in group 3 and the high
proportion of interrupted intercourse (35.2%) practiced in group 2.High level of
education was inversely related to the utilization of interrupted intercourse (odds
ratio=0.347, p=0.014), periodic abstinence (odds ratio=0.221, p=0.033) and
condom use (odds ratio=0.386,p=0.004). Higher level of education tended
(0.15p40.05) to show a similar relation with the practice of interrupted
intercourse and periodic abstinence, while significantly influenced the condom
use (odds ratio=0.359,p=0.014).
Conclusions: The educational level as well as the female age and the
religion tend to influence the contraceptive behavior.
