Sex in Australia: reproductive experiences and reproductive health among a representative sample of women.
OBJECTIVE
To document the reproductive experiences of a representative sample of Australian women aged 16-59 years.


METHODS
Computer-assisted telephone interviews were completed by a representative sample of 10,173 men and 9,134 women aged 16-59 years from all States and Territories. The overall response rate was 73.1% (69.4% among men, and 77.6% among women). Women were asked the number of times they had experienced a live birth, a still birth, a miscarriage and a termination of pregnancy.


RESULTS
Of the women surveyed, 15.5% reported having experienced difficulty in becoming pregnant and 76.1% had been pregnant at least once. Nearly all the women who had been pregnant reported experiencing a live birth. Substantial minorities of women reported having experienced a miscarriage (33.4%) or a termination of pregnancy (22.6%). The percentage of women who reported becoming pregnant the first time as a teenager declined from 22.8% among women aged 50-59 to 16.9% among women aged 20-29. Of those who had had vaginal intercourse, 19.2% had used emergency contraception, 53.3% of them only once.


CONCLUSIONS
There was clear evidence of substantial changes in the fertility of Australian women over the past 40 years.
Smith
Anthony M A
AM
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria. anthony.smith@latrobe.edu.au
Rissel
Chris E
CE
Richters
Juliet
J
Grulich
Andrew E
AE
de Visser
Richard O
RO
D000029:Abortion, Legal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000453:epidemiology; D000293:Adolescent; D000300:Adoption; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001723:Birth Rate; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data