Contraceptive use and sterilization among Puerto Rican women.

A comparison of contraceptive use in the early to mid-1980s among married Puerto Rican women aged 15-49 in the New York City area reveals that island-born Puerto Rican women living in New York rely on female sterilization to nearly the same extent as do women living in Puerto Rico (45% and 41%, respectively) and that mainland-born Puerto Rican women use sterilization as much as do all women in the United States (19% for both groups). Puerto Rican women in New York use reversible methods to a greater extent than do women in Puerto Rico (22% v. 16%), but to a lesser extent than do all women in the United States (37%). Although mainland-born Puerto Rican women in New York use reversible methods more than do island-born women in New York (42% v. 23%), they tend not to adopt these methods to the same extent as do all U.S. women during the early reproductive years, when education and employment are critical to socioeconomic attainment.