RESULTS:
Among the 975 sexually active US adolescent females surveyed, 15% reported a positive pregnancy attitude. Compared with adolescent females with a negative pregnancy attitude, those females with a positive pregnancy attitude were significantly (P < .05) more likely to have public insurance (43% vs 20%), to be poor (33% vs 10%), to have reached menarche at an earlier age (12 years old vs 13 years old), ever have HIV tested (35% vs 23%), but less likely to have ever been forced to have sex (1% vs 10%). In multivariable analyses, Latino race/ethnicity was associated with triple the odds, and African-American double the odds, of a positive pregnancy attitude. Older age of menarche and higher family income were associated with reduced odds of a positive pregnancy attitude.
CONCLUSIONS:
One in 7 sexually active US adolescent females had a positive pregnancy attitude. Minority race/ethnicity was associated with greater odds of a positive pregnancy attitude, whereas older age of menarche and a higher family income were associated with lower odds of a positive pregnancy attitude. Assessing pregnancy attitudes for these groups of adolescent females might prove useful to decrease adolescent pregnancy rates.
Source
J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2014 Mar 18. pii: S1083-3188(13)00327-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jpag.2013.10.005. [Epub ahead of print]
Pleased to be Pregnant? Positive Pregnancy Attitudes among Sexually Active Adolescent Females in the United States.
Lau M1, Lin H2, Flores G3.
