Contraceptive Careers : Toward a Subjective Approach to Fertility Regulating Behaviour

Abstract

Current research on fertility regulating behaviour is criticized on the grounds that it lacks theoretical coherence and is too preoccupied establishing the factors that predispose individuals toward the practice of contraception without addressing the subjective processes whereby these factors become translated into behavioural events. Proper consideration of this aspect of fertility regulating behaviour requires a more balanced theoretical and methodological approach capable of capturing the interplay of objective and subjective elements that is the essence of process.; An alternative approach is therefore suggested which recognizes (1) that such behaviour generally occurs in a context which allows a choice of alternatives; (2) that the factors which presumably govern the individual's selection of alternatives are mediated through a process of interaction between self and others; (3) that these interactional processes are situationally influenced and subjectively defined; and (4) can be viewed as developing sequentially over time. The concept of "career" encompasses all of these and therefore recommends itself as a highly relevant conceptual tool or "sensitizing concept" in the analysis of fertility regulating behaviour. The methodological implications of such an approach are briefly discussed .

Fertility and Infertility: Toward an Integrative Research Agenda

“…Thus, overwhelmingly when reproductive career is used in fertility research, it refers to the biological reproductive lifespan. One notable exception is Boldt and Latif's (1977) "contraceptive career." Drawing on the symbolic interaction tradition in sociological theory (Blumer 1969;Mead 1934), they advanced a stage model of contraceptive use:…”

“…Building on Boldt and Latif's (1977) and Bessett's (2010) work and the rich, prior sociological research on careers (Aldous 1978;Aneshensel 2013;Becker 1973;Blumstein 1986;McKinlay 1971;Pescosolido 1991), we promote a two-part meaning of the reproductive career: (1) the timespan of biological and social reproductive processes (i.e., the time-span during which an individual or couple builds their family through various biological and social means); and (2) the contingent and connected nature of past, present, and future reproductive experiences, attitudes, and behaviors. We emphasize understanding both the objective movement of individuals through their reproductive career, and the subjective responses to a particular reproductive experience (e.g., distress over an adverse reproductive event, decreased or heightened fertility desires in response to an unanticipated reproductive event).…”