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Consistent and Inconsistent Contraception Among Young Women: Insights from Qualitative Interviews
Author(s) -
Reed Joanna,
England Paula,
Littlejohn Krystale,
Bass Brooke Conroy,
Caudillo Mónica L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/fare.12058
Subject(s) - misinformation , unintended pregnancy , qualitative research , consistency (knowledge bases) , psychology , teen pregnancy , family planning , pregnancy , medicine , developmental psychology , qualitative property , social psychology , population , research methodology , sociology , political science , social science , geometry , mathematics , environmental health , machine learning , biology , computer science , law , genetics
Qualitative interviews with young women attending community colleges were used to address why women who do not desire pregnancy vary in how consistently they use contraception. Based on our analysis of the women's sexual histories, we argue that five factors are key to promoting or discouraging consistent use of contraception: efficacy (women's ability to put an intention to contracept into practice), the actions and attitudes of male partners, being in a long‐term relationship, whether women experience side effects, and misinformation or erroneous reasoning about pregnancy risk. Variations in how these factors combine at different times in women's lives explain much about their patterns of contraceptive consistency .