Do adolescents want to avoid pregnancy? Attitudes toward pregnancy as predictors of pregnancy.
OBJECTIVE
To document the extent to which adolescents feel ambivalent towards getting pregnant and to examine the relationship between pregnancy attitudes and the occurrence of a pregnancy one year later. Demographic correlates of pregnancy attitudes also were examined.


METHODS
This was a prospective study using a subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data base. The sample was 4869 adolescent females in grades 9 through 11 who completed two interviews at a one year interval. Logistic regression analyses were used to predict occurrence of a pregnancy at wave 2 from attitudes toward pregnancy at wave 1.


RESULTS
A substantial number of adolescent females (15%-30%) reported some degree of ambivalence toward becoming pregnant relative to their peers. Adolescent females' attitudes towards pregnancy were predictive of the occurrence of a pregnancy one year later. Additionally, demographic correlates of the pregnancy attitude were identified, including differences due to ethnicity, age, relationship status, mother's education level, and whether the adolescent came from a one or a two parent home.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that a significant minority of adolescents have some ambivalence toward pregnancy relative to their peers and that these attitudes are predictive of the occurrence of pregnancy.
Jaccard
James
J
Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York 12222, USA.
Dodge
Tonya
T
Dittus
Patricia
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014481:United States