title: Pleased to be pregnant? Positive pregnancy attitudes among sexually active adolescent females in the United States.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify factors associated with a positive pregnancy attitude among sexually active US teen females.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary database analysis of the National Survey of Family Growth.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescent females 15-19 years old.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nationally representative sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bivariate and multivariable analyses were performed of the 2002 and 2006-08 cycles to examine whether sociodemographic factors, contraceptive history, sexual education and behavior history, medical services history, and family and sexual attitudes were associated with a positive pregnancy attitude among sexually active teen females.
  
  
  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.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX; Children's Medical Center, Dallas, TX. Electronic address: may.lau@utsouthwestern.edu.
authors.forename: May
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX; Children's Medical Center, Dallas, TX.
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Flores
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001290:Attitude / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008484:Medicaid; D008572:Menarche; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent pregnancy; Attitudes; Risk factors; Secondary database analysis