Title:

Ambivalence and Pregnancy: The Effect of Adolescents' Attitudes on Contraception and Pregnancy

Author(s):

Martin, Anne R.
Brückner, Hannah
Bearman, Peter Shawn

Date:

2001

Type:

Working papers

Department:

Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy

Permanent URL:

http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:9804

Series:

ISERP Working Papers

Publisher:

Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University

Publisher Location:

New York

Abstract:

It has been argued that adolescents who get pregnant often do not sufficiently appreciate its unfavorable consequences, and that prevention programs should target participants' attitudes towards pregnancy. This study tests whether the nature and certainty of sexually active adolescent girls' attitudes towards pregnancy influence their contraceptive consistency and risk of pregnancy. It also tests whether attitudes towards contraception influence contraceptive consistency. Data are drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationwide prospective study of adolescents in grades 7-12. Attitudes towards pregnancy, attitudes towards contraception, knowledge about fertility and other individual characteristics are included in a multivariate model of contraceptive consistency. Those variables, as well as contraceptive consistency itself, are then included in a multivariate model of pregnancy. Net of other factors, girls' attitudes towards getting pregnant did not affect whether they actually became pregnant. However, ambivalence about pregnancy made girls less likely to use contraception. Girls who were most opposed to pregnancy did not differ in contraceptive consistency from those least opposed. Implications for pregnancy prevention efforts are discussed.

Subject(s):

Behavioral sciences
Public health

Item views:

263

Metadata:

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