Perceived susceptibility to pregnancy and its association with safer sex, contraceptive adherence and subsequent pregnancy among adolescent and young adult women.
BACKGROUND
The study was conducted to examine the hypotheses that adolescent and young adult women who perceived they are susceptible to pregnancy when birth control is not used are less likely to practice unsafe sex, discontinue oral contraception (OC) and become pregnant during a 12-month follow-up period.


METHODS
We conducted secondary analyses using data collected for a randomized controlled trial on OC adherence among 1155 low-income women 16-24 years of age. Demographics, lifestyle variables, perceived susceptibility to pregnancy assessed at baseline, and data on OC and condom use and pregnancy status collected during 12 months of follow-up were used for the analyses.


RESULTS
Overall, 62.3% of women accurately understood the risks of pregnancy without using any birth control method. However, perceived susceptibility was not associated with OC continuation [odds ratio (OR) 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.79-1.11], condom use at last sexual intercourse (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.84-1.24), dual method use (OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.92-1.48) and subsequent pregnancy (hazards ratio 1.08, 95% CI 0.77-1.49) during the 12-month follow-up period.


CONCLUSIONS
Perceived susceptibility to pregnancy, an important component of the health belief model, does not seem to have any impact on use of birth control methods, safer sex or rate of subsequent pregnancy among low-income adolescent and young adult women.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women's Health, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA. marahman@utmb.edu
Mahbubur
M
Rahman
Abbey B
AB
Berenson
Sandra R
SR
Herrera
D000293:Adolescent; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D021841:Safe Sex / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult