Predicting Desired Pregnancy in at-Risk Adolescent Females

Background

 

Much effort has gone into working with young women to prevent teen pregnancy. An overwhelming body of evidence indicates children born to teen mothers have significant consequences for both mother and child including prolonged poverty, chronic stress, and compromised behavioral health. However, many pregnancy prevention models assume pregnancy is due to lack of knowledge, faulty use of contraception, or dating violence.

An additional body of research has indicated that youth who have experienced maltreatment are more likely than their peers to become parents prematurely. However, research has only recently begun to explore whether such youth perceive pregnancy and consequent parenting as a benefit Therefore it may be beneficial to conceptualize a prevention model of practice with teen pregnancy, especially with maltreated youth, that assumes pregnancy is a desired state. Much of the research in this area has been qualitative in nature. This study fills a gap by considering which known risk factors for teen pregnancy predict young women’s desires to get pregnant using quantitative methods.

Method

 

309 female youth at Age 18 from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect were studied. All of these youth were considered either at risk of experiencing child maltreatment or having experienced maltreatment. 138 reported physical abuse, 147 reported psychological abuse, and 43 experienced sexual abuse during a lifetime victimization interview. Respondents also reported the severity and chronicity of the abuse as well as their perception of deservedness of each type of abuse.

Symptoms of alcohol misuse, depression, and PTSD were measured through the Diagnostic Interview for Children. Respondents were also asked how many homes they reported living in, how many caregivers they reported having, and perceived closeness with their parent-figures. Variables were introduced into a hierarchical logistic regression model in blocks in the above order. The dependent variable was a yes-no response to the question “Would you want to get pregnant in the next year?”

Results

The only variables that achieved significance at a 95% confidence level were the reported lifetime frequency of experiencing sexual abuse (OR = 1.27, p<.05) and the number of homes that the respondent reported living in during childhood (OR = 1.20, p<.001). Behavioral health concerns or parental relationships had no effect on the desire to be pregnant. Results were not affected by race or ethnicity of the respondent.

Implications

These results have implications for work with at-risk young women, particularly those who have been sexually abused or who experienced transient childhoods such as female foster youth. Given these young women are more likely to have children at younger ages, future research should explore whether these young women believe that having a baby serves a perceived benefit – in this case, either creating an attachment figure through sex (which has historically been a negative experience) or providing stability. Future research, particularly qualitative research with a phenomenological basis, should consider how at-risk young women perceive benefit in pregnancy. Prevention interventions should also consider talking to young women about alternatives to pregnancy for both relational and residential stability.