Source of service and visit rate of family planning services: United States, 1982

The factors that affect how women choose their source of family planning care and how often they go for such care were investigated in the National Survey of Family Growth. The survey is based on a national sample of women 15-44 years of age interviewed in 1982, 4,318 of whom had family planning visits in the last 3 years. In contrast, previous research has (a) been based on small, nonrepresentative samples, usually in one or a few locations or limited to visits to either private doctors or clinics, but not both; (b) been limited to teenagers; or (c) had no multivariate analysis. This study overcomes those limitations. When other variables were controlled, race, income, and insurance coverage had important effects on provider choice; marital status was important for white women, but not for black women. Contraceptive method, insurance coverage, and race were important determinants of the frequency of family planning visits, independent of other variables. It is suggested that relative costs or ability to pay, confidentiality, knowledge of alternative sources, and convenience of location affect choice of provider and visit rates.