title: Parent-daughter communication about abortion among nonpregnant African-American adolescent females.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify correlates of parent-daughter communication about abortion among nonpregnant adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nonpregnant African-American females aged 14-17 years attending one of three charter schools on Chicago's South Side were recruited and surveyed regarding parental relationship quality, attitudes toward sexual health, and communication about sexual health. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for ever discussing abortion using multivariable logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 265 adolescents, 43.0% had ever discussed abortion with a parent. While 72.3% would voluntarily tell a parent about an abortion plan, 19.2% feared a parent would physically hurt her, punish her, or evict her. Ever communicating about abortion was significantly associated with having a mother who had a teen pregnancy (OR, 1.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-3.78); having a prochoice abortion attitude (OR, 3.27; 95% CI, 1.29-8.25); having discussed sexually transmitted infections (OR, 2.97; 95% CI, 1.13-7.77) or birth control (OR, 2.96; 95% CI, 1.35-6.47) with a parent; and perceived parental approval of adolescent sexual activity (OR, 3.07; 95% CI, 1.20-7.88). Ever communicating about abortion was inversely related to being sexually experienced (OR, .48; 95% CI, .23-.99) or anticipating supportive parental reactions to an abortion decision (OR, .31; 95% CI, .13-.75).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although almost half of our sample was sexually active, the majority had never talked to their parents about abortion. Some reported fears of harm should the situation arise. Public policy should focus on promoting parent-daughter communication before an unwanted pregnancy rather than forcing communication after it occurs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Electronic address: ksisco@eriefamilyhealth.org.
authors.forename: Katherine M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Sisco
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Summer L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Erin K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Kavanagh
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Gilliam
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced; D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002641:Chicago; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009679:Nuclear Family; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Abortion; Adolescent; African-American; Communication; Parent–Child Relations; Pregnancy