A c ase contro l study has been conduc ted in Tegulet andrnBulga Awraja/ district, No rthern Shoa Admini strative Region.rnâ€¢ The purpo s e o f t he study was to assess t he variousrncharacteristics inf l u enc i ng modern con tra ception u s age amongrnusers as compared to neve r-users and dropouts from familyrnplanning clinics. A t otal 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 1 50 users, 115 never users and 49rndropouts were interviewed.rnExaminat i on of the various socio-demographic andrnreproductive characte ristics showed significant differencesrnin most of the variables between users and never-users.rncompared t o never-users, users were older (mean age 27.1rnyears versus 25. 9 y e ars), 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 home fo r c ash payment (43% versus 28%),rn,rnbelong to the high income class (30% versus 17%) and havernmore children (2 live-children or more) (72% versus 45%).The vast majority of users (95%) scored 3 and above inrnmodern contraception knowledge whereas only 51% of thernnever-users soored so high. Ninety percent of the users'rnhusbands scored 3 and above on modern contraceptivernknowledge while only 71% of never-users' scored this high.rnA higher approval of modern contraception and sex educationrnto school children was seen 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 variables tested between users and dropouts veryrnfew significant differences were demonstrated . Currentrnusers had used modern contraception for a mean period ofrn23.5 month3 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 (15% versus 10%). Multiple regression showed that of the variables measured,rnthe number o f pregnanc ies a woman had had, modernrncontraception knowledge a nd age , were the main predictors ofrn')rnusage of modern contrac eption (RÂ· = .13).rnDesire to have more children (40%), having nornhusband/sexual partner (19%) and fear of adverse effects ofrnmodern contraceptives (15%) were given as the major reasonsrnfor nonuse of modern contraceptives by the never-users.rnDropouts cited the desire to have additional chil drenrn(27%), becoming pregnant (21%), fear of adverse effects ofrnmodern contraceptives (21%), no method refill (12%) andrnhusband oppoEition (7%) as the major reasons forrndiscontinuation of modern contraception.rnRecomwendations have been given based on the outcome ofrnthe study.