Male Partner Contraceptive Interference: Associations With Destructive Conflict and Women’s Relational Power

Abstract

We explored the relational context of male partner contraceptive interference (CI), acts that impede women’s contraceptive use. Undergraduate women ( N = 213) who had previously been involved in a sexual relationship with a male partner provided self-report data on relational power and conflict within the relationship, including whether the past partner enacted CI. Relationships involving CI were characterized by greater conflict about whether to engage in sex, perceived infidelity, partner conflict engagement, and women’s withdrawal. These quantitative data suggest that, in heterosexual dyads, women who experience partner CI also experience disempowerment and multiple forms of destructive sexual and verbal conflict.