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Firstly, where do our survey participants live? It should probably come as no surprise that most of the contributors to the survey will come from the countries we get the most visitors from. As seen, the USA accounted for 63% of survey participants, with the UK/Ireland second, Canada third and other countries accounting for 12% of the survey.
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The second important demographic is how old were men when they had a vasectomy? As seen by the chart on the left, whilst some men had a vasectomy at an early age, the majority of men had their vasectomy in their late 30's to early 40's. This is consistent with most surveys and research that have looked at the same question. In our survey 41% of men had their vasectomy between the ages of 35 to 45.
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We asked what marital status men had at the time of the vasectomy. As seen opposite, 78% of men were married, and 9% were in long term relationships, but not married. The divorced figure is 3%. This may be that at the time of filling out the form men were divorced, or additionally it may mean that their marital status was divorced, but were living with another woman. The question wasn't particularly elaborate! The figure of 10% of single men seems a bit high to me personally, but the marital status question was asked on both the considering a vasectomy, and had a vasectomy forms and the results combined. Separating the results may reveal a different pattern for those who have had a vasectomy.
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We asked about the number of children men had. It comes as no surprise that the largest group (40%) had 2 children. The figure of no children may seem a bit on the high side, but this site has always had a high percentage of visitors who are childfree (and clearly wish to remain so!), so therefore this figure is also not really surprising either.
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One of the questions that was added to the survey after a short while was the question of what method of birth control was used in the year before vasectomy. This question was also on the survey form for those considering vasectomy as the "What is your primary method of birth control at the moment?" The answers have been combined. In this survey, the male condom was the clear winner. It's also worth noting that our survey sample stated that they were the one to first suggest vasectomy. I have to say I find both of these surprising, and would personally have assumed that the woman was the first one to suggest vasectomy, with the pill being the most used method in the preceding year.
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Moving on to look at the person who first suggested vasectomy:- As I said above, this answer to this question is surprising, and not what I would have expected. There may be several reasons here. One being that men's imaginations and memories my be playing tricks on them, and the other may be that our survey sample was unusual. One of the common themes in the personal experiences section is that a good percentage of men had a vasectomy on the grounds that it was medically the best solution for them as a couple, and were more than happy to go ahead with it. As the stories reflect a similar trend, this may suggest that the site's visitors are of a certain demographic, as opposed to being broadly cross sectional.
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One of the key aims of the survey was to look at who we knew before we had a vasectomy, and most importantly what sources we relied on. Obviously prior to vasectomy most men will try and discuss it with others that have been through the experience. Interestingly, co-workers came top of the league of who we talked about vasectomy with.
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We also asked what sources of information men looked at whilst considering vasectomy. Like the question above, men could select multiple options or none. Men did choose several options in most cases. There were no really clear patterns emerging except that books were the least consulted option, and the internet the top source. Less than 5% of men stated that they didn't look at any sources of information prior to the vasectomy.
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Lastly in the section asking general information about our contributors and the decision making process we asked how long men took between first considering vasectomy and actually consulting a doctor about having it done. There was virtually no difference between men considering vasectomy for under 6 months and between 6 months to one year.
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Overall satisfaction with vasectomy
Key:-
1, Glad I got it done - no regrets
2, Very happy!
3, Regret having it done - medical problems
4, No medical problems but circumstances changed my mind later on
5, I had a bad experience, but it's still worth doing
6, Not sure either way
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