Condom and Other Contraception Use in Contemporary Russia: Effects of Individual Characteristics, Locality Type, and Sex Event Context

Theodore P. Gerber, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Danielle Berman, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Condom and other contraception use are especially important yet under-researched topics for understanding recent dramatic demographic and epidemiological trends in Russia. We estimate statistical models showing how individual traits, locality, and “sex event context” – characteristics of the relationship, setting, and terms involved in the sex event – are associated with contraceptive behavior. We use data from the 2001 and 2003 Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, a panel survey on a representative probability sample of Russian households, which included special batteries on sexual behavior and contraception use for respondents aged 14-49. 3994 respondents completed the battery once and 3964 completed it twice, yielding 11922 observation records, reports on 11431 sex events, and multiple events for 3532 respondents. The data offer a uniquely rich set of measures and sufficient statistical power to estimate models with person-level fixed effects to permit stronger conclusions regarding the effects of sex event context.