Do adolescents want to avoid pregnancy? Attitudes toward pregnancy as predictors of pregnancy

• Published in: Journal of adolescent health 2003-08, Vol.33 (2), p.79-83
• Main Authors: Jaccard, James, Dodge, Tonya, Dittus, Patricia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Peer Group; Pregnancy; Pregnancy attitudes; Pregnancy in Adolescence - prevention & control; Pregnancy in Adolescence - psychology; Pregnancy prediction; Prevention and actions; Prospective Studies; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Sexual Behavior; Specific populations (family, woman, child, elderly...); United States
• ISSN: 1054-139X; 1879-1972
• DOI: 10.1016/S1054-139X(03)00134-4

To document the extent to which adolescents feel ambivalent towards getting pregnant and to examine the relationship between pregnancy attitudes and the occurrence of a pregnancy one year later. Demographic correlates of pregnancy attitudes also were examined. This was a prospective study using a subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data base. The sample was 4869 adolescent females in grades 9 through 11 who completed two interviews at a one year interval. Logistic regression analyses were used to predict occurrence of a pregnancy at wave 2 from attitudes toward pregnancy at wave 1. A substantial number of adolescent females (15%–30%) reported some degree of ambivalence toward becoming pregnant relative to their peers. Adolescent females’ attitudes towards pregnancy were predictive of the occurrence of a pregnancy one year later. Additionally, demographic correlates of the pregnancy attitude were identified, including differences due to ethnicity, age, relationship status, mother’s education level, and whether the adolescent came from a one or a two parent home. Results suggest that a significant minority of adolescents have some ambivalence toward pregnancy relative to their peers and that these attitudes are predictive of the occurrence of pregnancy.