Attitudes toward abortion among students at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to describe the attitudes toward abortion of Ghanaian University students and to determine factors which are associated with supporting a woman's right to an abortion.


METHODS
This cross-sectional survey was administered to residential students at the University of Cape Coast. Participants were posed a series of 26 statements to determine to what extent they were supportive of abortion as a woman's right. An exploratory factor analysis was used to create a scale with the pertinent factors that relate to abortion attitudes and a multivariable linear regression model explored the relationships among significant variables noted during exploratory factor analysis.


RESULTS
1038 students completed the survey and these students had a generally negative view of abortion. Two factors emerged: (1) the Abortion as a Right scale consisted of five questions (α = .755) and (2) the Moral Objection to Abortion scale consisted of three questions (α = .740). In linear regression, being older (β = 1.9), sexually experienced (β = 1.2), having a boyfriend/girlfriend (β = 1.4), and knowing someone who has terminated a pregnancy (β = 1.1) were significantly associated with a more liberal view of a right to an abortion.


CONCLUSIONS
This work supports the idea that students who have personal exposure to an abortion experience hold more liberal views on abortion than those who have not had a similar exposure.
Global REACH, University of Michigan Medical School, USA. Electronic address: sarahrom@umich.edu.
Sarah D
SD
Rominski
Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
Eugene
E
Darteh
Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
Kwamena Sekyi
KS
Dickson
School of Nursing, University of Michigan, USA.
Michelle
M
Munro-Kramer
D000029:Abortion, Legal; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005869:Ghana; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D014933:Women's Rights; D055815:Young Adult
Abortion; Abortion attitude; Exploratory factor analysis; Ghana