Abstract
Background
Adolescents are at high risk of unintended pregnancy due to contraceptive nonuse and
inconsistent use.
Study Design
We examined associations between contraception and mistimed/unwanted birth among adolescents.
For contraceptive nonusers, we analyzed factors contributing to unintended birth.
Results
Half of adolescents with unintended births did not use contraception at conception.
Those ambivalent about pregnancy reported fewer unwanted [relative risk (RR)=0.06]
compared to wanted births. Amongst contraceptive nonusers, difficulty accessing birth
control was the only factor associated with more unwanted birth (RR=3.05). For Black
adolescents, concerns of side effects (RR=7.03), access issues (RR=10.95) and perceived
sterility (RR=3.20) were associated with unwanted birth. For younger teens, falsely
perceived subfertility increased unwanted birth (RR=2.74), whereas access issues were
significant for older teens (RR=3.97).
Conclusions
Access issues and misconceptions around contraceptive side effects and fertility place
adolescents at higher risk for unintended pregnancy, especially among younger and
Black teens. Ambivalence represents an additional area for intervention.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 02, 2011
Accepted:
March 11,
2011
Received in revised form:
March 10,
2011
Received:
October 19,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
