Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Corresponding author. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 58 low-income men in Pittsburgh, PA, to explore their perspectives on contraception, pregnancy, fatherhood, and relationships. We analyzed the interviews using a combination of content analysis, the constant comparison method, and thematic analysis. Men who we interviewed frequently described feeling that they lacked agency regarding when pregnancies occurred and whether or not they became fathers.
Several factors contributed to their sense of low agency, including the belief that women should control contraception and reproduction, a reluctance to have conversations about contraception in some contexts, a lack of acceptable male-controlled contraceptive methods, experiences with pregnancy-promoting behaviors by women, and fatalistic attitudes towards pregnancy occurrence.
Many men in our study described perceptions of limited reproductive agency. Keywords: Male contraception, Reproductive autonomy, Hybrid masculinity, Fatherhood, Family planning. Reasons for these disparate rates are multifactorial and require consideration of healthcare and contraceptive access, as well as a wide range of complex socio-cultural and structural issues including reproductive autonomy i.
One area that has been relatively understudied is the role of male partners. However, other research has found that, in some cases, increased male involvement in contraceptive decision-making is linked to increased interference with contraceptive use by male partners [ 8 ], and reproductive coercion on the part of male partners is associated with both interpersonal violence and unintended pregnancy [ 9 , 10 ].
Among the findings from these interviews was a predominant theme of low-income men, both Black and White, feeling that they lack reproductive agency — that is, perceptions that although they have some influence in the matter, they frequently cannot control whether or not they have children. In this manuscript, we focus on factors men identify as contributing to their experiences and perspectives on limited agency around reproduction.
