Adolescent Girls' Attitudes Toward Pregnancy

Journal of Family Practice, July, 2001 by Carol Cowley, Tillman Farley

The mean age of subjects' boyfriends was 18.4 years, with an age range of 13 to 30 years. One third of the girls lived with both of their biological parents, and 78% lived with at least one biological parent. Three were already married at the time of initial visit. Almost half (46%) described their enrollment visit as confidential.

One hundred seven (56.4%) of the girls were categorized as wishing to avoid pregnancy, 16 girls (19.8%) as desiring pregnancy, and 25 girls (23.7%) as ambivalent about whether they wanted to be pregnant. Unadjusted analysis comparing girls desiring pregnancy with those feeling ambivalent revealed only 1 significant difference: girls desiring pregnancy were more likely to report that their boyfriends wanted a baby. So, in the final analysis, these girls were grouped together, and compared with the girls wishing to avoid pregnancy (Table W1(*)).

Unadjusted analysis of the 148 subjects is shown in Table 2. Girls wishing to avoid pregnancy differed from girls desiring or ambivalent about pregnancy in 6 different parameters: ethnicity, school attendance, employment status, family structure, time spent away from home, and desire of boyfriend to have a baby. There was no significant association between a girl's age and her attitude toward pregnancy (P=.48). Notably, the mean age difference between girls and their boyfriends was not significantly associated with desire for pregnancy.

TABLE 2
COMPARISON OF GIRLS DESIRING PREGNANCY OR AMBIVALENT ABOUT PREGNANCY
WITH THOSE WISHING TO AVOID PREGNANCY

                         Girls
                        Desiring         Girls           Unadjusted
                       Pregnancy        Wishing          Odds Ratio
                           or              to             (95% CI)
                       Ambivalent        Avoid               for
                        About It       Pregnancy          Desiring
Variable                 (N=41)         (N=107)           Pregnancy

CHARACTERISTIC OF
  STUDY PARTICIPANT

Mean age, years       16             16
Hispanic, no. (%)     28 (68)        38 (35)           3.9 (1.8-8.4)
No longer in          20 (49)        15 (14)           5.8 (2.6-13.3)
  school, no. (%)
Unemployed, no. (%)   33 (83)        65(*) (61)        3.0 (1.2-7.3)
Does not live with    16 (39)        17 (16)           3.4 (1.5-7.6)
  any natural
  parent, no. (%)
Currently uses        24([dagger])   63 (59)           1.0 (0.5-2.2)
  alcohol, no. (%)      (60)
Has lived away from   30 (73)        39 (36)           4.8 (2.1-10.6)
  home for at least
  2 weeks, no. (%)

CHARACTERISTICS OF
  BOYFRIEND

Mean age              18.3 years     18.0 years
                        (14-24)        (13-25)
Age >18               17([double     35 (36)           1.5 (0.7-3.2)
                        dagger])
                        (46)
Mean age difference    2.35           2.0
  in years between
  subject and her
  boyfriend
Information missing      4            11

BOYFRIEND'S
  ATTITUDE TOWARD
  PREGNANCY

Wants a child,        23([double     2([sections])    78.9 (16.7-371.5)
  no. (%)               dagger])       (2)
                        (62)
Doesn't want a        4([double
  child, no. (%)        dagger])     93([sections])   .007 (.002-.026)
                        (11)           (95)
Ambivalent about      3([double      2([sections])     4.1 (0.7-25.8)
  having a child,       dagger])       (2)
  no. (%)               (8)
Subject does not      7([double      1([sections])    22.6 (2.7-191.4)
  know what             dagger])       (1)
  boyfriend wants,      (19)
  no. (%)
Information missing      4            9

(*) N=65

([dagger]) N=24

([double dagger]) N=37

([sections]) N=98

CI denotes confidence interval.

In multivariate analysis of characteristics of the girls themselves, factors significantly associated with a positive attitude toward pregnancy were Hispanic ethnicity, having lived away from home for more than 2 weeks, and having left school (Table 3).

TABLE 3
ADJUSTED ODDS RATIO FOR DESIRING PREGNANCY (N=148)

                                                Adjusted Odds Ratios
                                                (95% CI) for Desiring
                                                      Pregnancy

MODEL EXCLUDING BOYFRIEND VARIABLES

Girl has lived away from home for >2 weeks          3.0 (1.3-7.2)(*)
Hispanic                                            3.5 (1.5-8.0)(*)
Not in school                                       3.8 (1.6-9.4)(*)

MODEL INCLUDING BOYFRIEND VARIABLES

Boyfriend does not want a baby(*)                   1.0 (reference)
Boyfriend wants a baby(*)                         146.6 (29.2-736.6)
Boyfriend ambivalent about baby(*)                 19.1 (2.8-131.6)
Subject does not know what boyfriend wants(*)      89.2 (9.7-818.0)

(*) As reported by the subjects.

CI denotes confidence interval.