Abstract
Objectives
We examined whether and how long young women became more or less likely to desire
a pregnancy after experiencing a “pregnancy scare.”
Study Design
We used data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, based on
a random, population-based sample of 992 young women from a county in Michigan. They
were interviewed weekly for 2.5 years. We used fixed-effects logistic regression models
to predict pregnancy desire after a pregnancy scare.
Results
Of the 759 sexually experienced women we analyzed, 103 (14%) experienced 128 pregnancy
scares. A woman's (adjusted) odds of desiring a pregnancy were 3.70 (95% CI 2.27–6.02)
times higher during the week after, 3.04 (95% CI 2.30–4.10) times higher during the
month after a pregnancy scare, and 2.31 (95% CI 1.71–3.11) times higher during all
weeks after the pregnancy scare, compared to her other weeks during the study period.
In a final model directly comparing each period to all weeks before the pregnancy
scare, the odds of pregnancy desire were highest (aOR 5.08, 95% CI 3.06–8.42) during
the first week, slightly smaller (aOR 3.01, 95% CI 2.11 – 4.30) during the subsequent
three weeks, and remained elevated (aOR 1.58, 95% CI 1.19–2.09) throughout the remainder
of the study period.
Conclusions
Our analyses suggest that the experience of a pregnancy “scare” does not scare young
women away from wanting pregnancies. On the contrary, the state of possibly being
pregnant actually made young women in our study more likely to want to be pregnant,
on average.
Implications
Very few young women desire a pregnancy during the transition to adulthood; however,
a salient life event like a pregnancy scare can abruptly generate a desire for pregnancy.
Our study contributes to efforts to help women implement their pregnancy desires by
furthering our understanding of those desires and the contexts in which they are formed.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 28, 2021
Accepted:
June 21,
2021
Received in revised form:
June 18,
2021
Received:
May 20,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
