“The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention

Despite demonstrable need, men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services remains low. This low utilization may particularly affect low-income men, given the disproportionate prevalence of unintended pregnancy in low-income populations. Bolstering men’s utilization of sexual and reprod...

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Main Authors: Megan Hamm PhD, Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD, Lovie Jackson Foster PhD, Mario Browne MPH, Sonya Borrero MD,MS
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2018-07-01
Series:American Journal of Men's Health
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988318775189
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author Megan Hamm PhD
Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD
Lovie Jackson Foster PhD
Mario Browne MPH
Sonya Borrero MD,MS
author_facet Megan Hamm PhD
Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD
Lovie Jackson Foster PhD
Mario Browne MPH
Sonya Borrero MD,MS
author_sort Megan Hamm PhD
collection DOAJ
description Despite demonstrable need, men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services remains low. This low utilization may particularly affect low-income men, given the disproportionate prevalence of unintended pregnancy in low-income populations. Bolstering men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services requires understanding the services that are most relevant to them. Semistructured interviews about fatherhood, fertility intention, and contraceptive use were conducted with 58 low-income Black and White men in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis to determine common themes that were most relevant to the men interviewed. The primacy of financial stability emerged as a dominant theme in men’s perceptions of fatherhood readiness, successful fathering, and fertility intentions. However, men had children despite feeling financially unprepared, and their contraceptive use was not always congruent with their stated fertility intentions. Some men described financial services as a feature of family planning services that they would find useful. Because of the salience of financial stability in preparation for fatherhood, integrating financial counseling and job skills training into the context of sexual and reproductive health services could be a useful structural intervention to increase men’s use of family planning services and to provide them with the support they say they need as fathers.
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spelling doaj.art-8c5b1a4c11e3420ead1aa068d08015622022-12-21T22:49:43ZengSAGE PublishingAmerican Journal of Men's Health1557-98831557-98912018-07-011210.1177/1557988318775189“The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility IntentionMegan Hamm PhD0Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD1Lovie Jackson Foster PhD2Mario Browne MPH3Sonya Borrero MD,MS4Center for Research on Healthcare, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USACenter for Women’s Health Research and Innovation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USAUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, Pittsburgh, PA, USAUniversity of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, USACenter for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USADespite demonstrable need, men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services remains low. This low utilization may particularly affect low-income men, given the disproportionate prevalence of unintended pregnancy in low-income populations. Bolstering men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services requires understanding the services that are most relevant to them. Semistructured interviews about fatherhood, fertility intention, and contraceptive use were conducted with 58 low-income Black and White men in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis to determine common themes that were most relevant to the men interviewed. The primacy of financial stability emerged as a dominant theme in men’s perceptions of fatherhood readiness, successful fathering, and fertility intentions. However, men had children despite feeling financially unprepared, and their contraceptive use was not always congruent with their stated fertility intentions. Some men described financial services as a feature of family planning services that they would find useful. Because of the salience of financial stability in preparation for fatherhood, integrating financial counseling and job skills training into the context of sexual and reproductive health services could be a useful structural intervention to increase men’s use of family planning services and to provide them with the support they say they need as fathers.https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988318775189
spellingShingle Megan Hamm PhD
Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD
Lovie Jackson Foster PhD
Mario Browne MPH
Sonya Borrero MD,MS
“The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention
American Journal of Men's Health
title “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention
title_full “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention
title_fullStr “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention
title_full_unstemmed “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention
title_short “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention
title_sort the financial is the main issue it s not even the child exploring the role of finances in men s concepts of fatherhood and fertility intention
url https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988318775189
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