A case control study has been conducted in Tegulet andrnBulga Awraja/district, Northern Shoa Administrative Region.rnThe purpose of the study was to assess the variousrncharacteristics influencing modern contraception usage amongrnusers as compared to never-users and dropouts from familyrnplanning clinics. A total of 848 women ages 15 - 49 wererninterviewed. Among these, 41.4% were users while 42.1% andrn16.5% were never-users and dropouts, respectively. Inrnaddition, husbands of 150 users , 115 never users and 49rndropouts were interviewed.rnExaminat i on of the various socio-demographic andrnreproductive characteristics showed significant differencesrnin most of the variables between users and never-users.rncompared to never-users, users were older (mean age 27.1rnyears versus 25.9 years), more likely to be married (56%rnversus 47%) or divor ced (31% versus 25%), have a higher meanrneducational level (grade 5.3 versus 4.8), are more likely tornwork outside the h orne for cash payment (43% versus 28%),rnbelong to the high income class (30% versus 17%) and havernmore chi l dren (2 live- children or more) (72% versus 45%).rnrnThe vast maj ority of use r s (95%) s cor ed 3 and above inrnmodern contrac ept i on knowledge whereas only 51% of thernnever-users scored so h igh . Ni nety per cent o f the users'rnhusbands scored 3 and above on modern contraceptivernknowledge while only 71 % o f never-us ers' scored this high.rnA higher approval of modern contraception and sex educationrnto school children was s een among users' husbands (99% andrn88%, respectively) as compared to never-users (77% and 74%,rnrespectively) . Husband-wife communication on familyrnplanning was significantly higher among users (41%) thanrnnever-users (15%).rnOf the v ariables tested between users and dropouts veryrnfew signifi cant differences were demonstrated . Currentrnusers had u s ed modern contraception f o r a mean period ofrn23 . 5 months while dropouts had used it for a mean period ofrn17.9 months. A higher proportion of dropouts were found tornbe dissatisfied with the method refill interval compared tornusers (1 9% versus 10%).