title: Contraception and Unintended Pregnancy among Unmarried Female University Students: A Cross-sectional Study from China.
abstract: This study aims to understand the level of contraceptive knowledge and attitudes towards contraception, and then to explore the association between the contraceptive behavior and unintended pregnancy in unmarried female university students in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted of university students in 49 universities across 7 cities in China from September 2007 to January 2008. We distributed 74,800 questionnaires, of which 69,842 were returned. In this paper, the data from 35,383 unmarried female university students were analyzed. The prevalence of sexual intercourse in unmarried female university students was 10.2%. The prevalence of unintended pregnancy in those sexually active female university students, was 31.8%. Among students with pregnancy, 53.5% experienced two or more pregnancies. 28.3% of the students with sexual intercourse reported that they always adopted contraceptive methods, and of those 82.9% chose to use male condoms. The majority (83.9%) of students with unintended pregnancy chose to terminate the latest pregnancy by surgical abortion or medical abortion. The contraceptive knowledge level of students who experienced unintended pregnancy was lower than those who did not. In China, about one third of unmarried female students with sexual intercourse experience unintended pregnancy. A variety of contraceptive methods are adopted, but the frequency of contraceptive use is low. Most of unmarried female students who experienced unintended pregnancy would choose to terminate the pregnancy with surgical or medical abortion. University students, especially the ones who have experienced unintended pregnancy, lack contraceptive and reproductive health knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Department of medical affairs, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, Chin; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Hongjing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Department of medical affairs, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, Chin.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: The Public Management Teaching and Research Section, Humanities School, Henan Universities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Qinyu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Xuejun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Population and Family Planning of Chongqing City, Sexual Health Education Research Center, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Xueyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Capital Normal University, Sexual Health Education Research Center, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Meimei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Family Planning, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Chengliang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003267:Contraception / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D049168:Pregnancy, Unplanned; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012847:Single Person; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult