These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Psychosocial variables associated with teenage pregnancy.
    Author: Morgan C, Chapar GN, Fisher M.
    Journal: Adolescence; 1995; 30(118):277-89. PubMed ID: 7676866.
    Abstract:
    This study investigated whether psychosocial factors differentiate sexually active teenagers who become pregnant from those who do not. Data were collected from 64 unmarried adolescents who attended a suburban health clinic for a pregnancy test or for contraceptive care. Thirty-nine percent of the sample had been or were now pregnant, and 61% had never been pregnant. Each teenager completed a questionnaire and three self-report measures (Life Events Checklist, Self-Worth, Health Locus of Control) prior to her medical visit. Information about family, medical, and psychosocial history was obtained from chart review. When girls who had positive pregnancy tests, and sexually active girls who had never been pregnant were compared, no significant differences emerged on socioeconomic status, race, religion, age or psychological variables. However, when adolescents with a previous or current history of pregnancy (N = 25) were compared with girls who had never been pregnant (N = 39), using the Mann Whitney test, two significant differences were found: adolescents with a history of pregnancy had first intercourse at the mean age of 15 rather than 16 (p < .02) and scored higher than never-pregnant teenagers on the "Powerful Other" Health Locus of Control subscale, a measure of strong belief in external control by others (p < .01). No significant differences were detected between the groups for self-worth or life events perceived as stressful during the past year. These data indicate that in a middle-class suburban population of sexually active teenagers, earlier age at first intercourse and the influence of powerful others are important variables associated with pregnancy. To identify the psychological and sociocultural factors that place middle-class White adolescents at risk of an unmarried pregnancy, 64 patients attending a suburban New York clinic for a pregnancy test or contraception were consecutively enrolled in a comparative study. 61% of subjects had never been pregnant; the remaining 39% were currently pregnant or had been in the past. It was hypothesized that suburban adolescents who become pregnant differ from their sexually active non-pregnant peers in terms of self-esteem, health locus of control, and impact of negative life events measures. There were no significant differences between groups in terms of socioeconomic status, age, religion, parental marital status, age at menarche, contraceptive use, alcohol or drug abuse, self-esteem, or psychological problems. However, there were three significant differences between adolescents who had experienced a pregnancy and their non-pregnant peers: 1) all three girls in the sample whose mothers had died had become pregnant; 2) the mean age at first intercourse was 14.8 years for the ever-pregnant group compared to 15.6 years for never-pregnant teens; and 3) ever-pregnant teens had significantly higher scores on the "powerful other" locus of control subscale of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale. This last finding implies that adolescents who depend on powerful others for decision making are more vulnerable to pregnancy than their more inner-directed peers.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]