Couples who use fertility awareness-based methods of family planning have sex just as often as couples who use other contraceptive methods -- they just time it differently, according to a new Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health study to be published in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Biosocial Science.
The study is now available online on the journal's website.
Fertility awareness-based methods, such as the Institute-developed Standard Days Method and TwoDay Method, are also known as natural methods of family planning. These methods enable women to identify the days of the cycle when they are most fertile. During these fertile days couples should avoid unprotected intercourse if they do not want to become pregnant.
"Because those who use natural family planning methods need to avoid unprotected sex for several days each month, many people believe that these methods require great self control. This is simply not the case. This study confirms that couples using natural family planning have intercourse just as frequently as couples using other methods," notes Institute for Reproductive Health Director Victoria Jennings, Ph.D. Jennings is an anthropologist who studies health behavior and culture change and is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Georgetown University Medical Center.
Use of fertility-based awareness methods strongly influences the timing of sexual activity, report study authors Irit Sinai, Ph.D. and Marcos Arevalo, M.D., both assistant professors of obstetrics and gynecology. They found that couples who use fertility awareness-based methods of family planning to prevent pregnancy engage in more frequent sex before and after the fertile time, and have less sex during fertile days. Frequency of intercourse over the course of the women's cycle is comparable to those of couples using other methods of family planning.