Adolescent Girls' Attitudes Toward Pregnancy

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

Our study results may not be generalizable to other adolescent populations. Our study sample was from a mostly rural area, and the only minority group represented was Hispanic. The vast majority of girls visiting our community health center are from low socioeconomic groups. It is not clear that our results would be tree for other ethnicities or for girls from higher socioeconomic levels.

CONCLUSIONS

A boyfriend's desire for a baby is best predictor of an adolescent girl's attitude toward pregnancy. The most effective interventions may be those, that explore the extent to which a boyfriend's attitude shapes a girl's critical reproductive health decisions. Primary care providers should include boyfriends in any efforts to deny pregnancy in at-risk adolescent girls and should encourage greater dialogue between the girl and her partner with respect to contraceptive and childbearing decisions.

KEY POINTS

* When assessing risk for pregnancy in a teenaged
girl, the most important question to ask may be
whether she thinks her boyfriend wants her to
be pregnant.

* Girls who are ambivalent about whether they
want to be pregnant are very similar to those
desiring pregnancy, and should be considered at
high risk for pregnancy.

* Primary care providers should encourage communication
between teenaged girls and their
partners, and actively involve partners in the
pregnancy and parenting discussion.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the following people for their assistance with this study: Kathy Beamis, for help with data collection; Sherry Holcomb, MS, and Debbi Main, PhD, for help with data analysis; the University of Colorado Primary Care Faculty Development Fellowship group, for review and suggestions.

(*) Table W1 can be found on the JFP Web site at www.jfponline.com.

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