To assess contraceptive use and child-rearing outcomes, a semistructured
interview was given to 92 male psychiatric outpatients and to 92 matched
control subjects without major mental illness. Compared with the control
subjects, the patients were significantly more likely to have given up
children less than 16 years of age for others to raise. Thirty-three
percent of the patients who did not want to father children reported that
contraception had not been used when they last had heterosexual
intercourse. The findings suggest that psychiatrists should identify and
reduce male psychiatric patients' risk of fathering unwanted children.
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