Contraceptive behaviour of teenagers requesting abortion.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the contraceptive use of teenage girls requesting abortion.


METHODS
A questionnaire survey was made concerning contraceptive use, awareness and the attitude toward contraceptives. The Mantel-Haenszel test was applied to compare contraceptive determinants between teenagers (<20 years old) and older women.


RESULTS
The use of reliable contraceptive methods was significantly less frequent among the teenagers than among the older counterparts, but this difference was much more significant (P<0.001) between those who requested abortion (OR=0.44) than between the controls (OR=0.51). The knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills was similarly significantly poorer between the teenagers in the abortion group (P<0.001) relative to the older women (OR=0.07) and the teenagers in the control group (OR=0.10). Financial means was not a significant determinant in the choice of contraceptives.


CONCLUSIONS
To prevent unwanted pregnancy among teenagers, the media, the family, the school and health-care providers should focus on sexual education and information.
Kozinszky
Zoltán
Z
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of General Medicine, University of Szeged, H-6725 Szeged, Hungary.
Bártai
György
G
D000023:Abortion Applicants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003267:Contraception / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011336:Probability; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires