Lucky girls: unintentional avoidance of adolescent pregnancy among low-income African-American females.
OBJECTIVE
To describe lucky adolescents who unintentionally avoid pregnancy.


METHODS
The second phase of a descriptive qualitative study in which 17 low-income African-American females ages 19 to 26 participated in open-ended interviews on how they avoided pregnancy as adolescents.


RESULTS
Constant comparative analysis revealed that five of the girls avoided pregnancy because they were "lucky" that others insisted they use contraceptives. These lucky girls were unaware of sexual risks, but used contraceptives because they complied with decisions made by their parents, grandparents, and partners.


CONCLUSIONS
Lucky girls are at risk for adolescent pregnancy because they abdicate decision making to others and are likely to be overlooked in practice because they are using contraceptives. Promoting self-protection includes assessment, knowledge, skills-building strategies, and health-promoting contracts between the nurse and adolescent.
Martyn
Kristy K
KK
kmartyn@umich.edu
Hutchinson
Sally A
SA
Martin
Jacquelyn H
JH
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D010379:Peer Group; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014481:United States