Date of Submission

5-12-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Advisor

Jessica Holzer

Keywords

irth control pills, mental health, perception, women

LCSH

oral contraceptives, mental health, women

Abstract

The National Library of Medicine published an article mentioning how hormonal contraception might cause and sustain depression in some patients (Mu & Kulkarni, 2022). Currently, approximately 25% of women ages 15-44 who are currently using a form of contraception rely on the pill as the primary method (Cooper, 2024). However, there is still no definite yes or no answer in terms of whether the use of birth control pills can lead to mental health effects. The objective of this paper is to see what the current perceptions on whether birth control pills have an effect on mental health based on women's past use of it. A survey with prompts stating that the use of birth control leads to mental health effects was used to look at the level of perception. For the prompts with negative connotations regarding the use of the pill, the level of disagreement between the no previous and would not consider pill use and the previous and current pill users, as well as the previous, but no longer pill users, were of statistical significance. On the contrary, for all of these statements, the no previous and would consider pill use responses showed no statistical difference when compared to the no previous and would not consider pill use participants. A clear pattern was seen between the past usage of the pill and experiences with it and the level of disagreement on whether it has negative or positive effects on mental health. This goes to show the impact of perception when it comes to health behaviors.

Download

Share

COinS