Use of contraceptives by women of upper socioeconomic status.

This was a descriptive correlational study of the contraceptive knowledge, methods, and consistency of contraceptive use by women of upper socioeconomic class. Socioeconomic class was determined using Hollingshead's Four-Factor Index of Social Status (1975) and was based on the woman's own educational and occupational status. The mean socioeconomic score for participants in this study (N = 83) was high in the second of five socioeconomic classes. Study participants were found to be consistent users of their contraceptive method and had fewer unplanned pregnancies in their history than the general population. They were more knowledgeable about contraceptives and reproduction than others tested with the same contraceptive knowledge instrument. They used barrier methods predominantly, with the use of less theoretically effective methods correlating significantly with a greater number of contraceptive methods used in the past.