Contraception
Volume 81, Issue 3 , Pages 249-253, March 2010

Perceived competence and contraceptive use during adolescence☆

  • Jennifer B. Hillman

      Affiliations

    • Division of Adolescent Medicine, MLC 4000, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +1 513 636 3539; fax: +1 513 636 1129.
    • ,
  • Sonya Negriff

      Affiliations

    • School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
    • ,
  • Lorah D. Dorn

      Affiliations

    • Division of Adolescent Medicine, MLC 4000, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA

Received 10 August 2009; received in revised form 2 November 2009; accepted 5 November 2009. published online 07 December 2009.

Abstract 

Background

Little is known about psychosocial correlates of different contraceptive methods in adolescence.

Study Design

Cross-sectional analyses of 209 postmenarcheal girls [mean age (years)±SD=15.68±1.74], primarily Caucasian (62.8%) or African American (32.8%). Competence (activities and social) and rule-breaking behavior were assessed by the Youth Self Report (YSR; adolescent) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; parent). Three contraceptive-use groups were created: no hormonal contraceptive (n=142), combined oral contraceptives or the transdermal patch (COCs/patch, n=41), and depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA, n=20).

Results

There was a significant effect of contraceptive-use group on competence (p=.003). The DMPA group had lower competence (CBCL activities and social; YSR social) than the no-hormonal-contraceptive and COCs/patch groups. The COCs/patch group scored lower than the no-hormonal-contraceptive group on YSR activities competence, but was not different from the DMPA group. Lastly, there was an effect of contraceptive-use group on CBCL (but not YSR) rule-breaking behavior (p=.029) with the DMPA group having higher rule-breaking behavior than the other groups.

Conclusions

Type of contraceptive method was associated with parent and adolescent's perceived competence. For rule-breaking behavior, parental perception may be more relevant to contraceptive use.

Keywords: Hormonal contraception, Adolescents, Competence, Behavior, Methods

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☆ This research was supported by National Institute of Drug Abuse R01 DA016402; in part by the USPHS Grant # UL1RR026314 from the National Center for Research Resources, NIH; and by the National Institute of Health/Office of Research on Women's Health 1K12 HD051953.

PII: S0010-7824(09)00485-5

doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2009.11.001

Contraception
Volume 81, Issue 3 , Pages 249-253, March 2010

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