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Factors Associated with Young Adults’ Pregnancy Likelihood
Author(s) -
Kornides Melanie L.,
Kitsantas Panagiota,
Lindley Lisa L.,
Wu Huichuan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of midwifery and women's health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.543
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1542-2011
pISSN - 1526-9523
DOI - 10.1111/jmwh.12258
Subject(s) - pregnancy , medicine , young adult , national survey of family growth , odds ratio , demography , confidence interval , logistic regression , unintended pregnancy , obstetrics , odds , cross sectional study , population , family planning , gerontology , environmental health , research methodology , genetics , pathology , sociology , biology
Although progress has been made to reduce adolescent pregnancies in the United States, rates of unplanned pregnancy among young adults aged (aged 18‐29 years) remain high. In this study, we assessed factors associated with perceived likelihood of pregnancy (likelihood of getting pregnant/getting partner pregnant in the next year) among sexually experienced young adults who were not trying to get pregnant and had previously used contraceptives. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of 660 young adults, aged 18 to 29 years in the United States, from the cross‐sectional National Survey of Reproductive and Contraceptive Knowledge. Logistic regression and classification tree analyses were conducted to generate profiles of young adults most likely to report anticipating a pregnancy in the next year. Results Nearly one‐third (32%) of young adults indicated that they believed they had at least some likelihood of becoming pregnant in the next year. Young adults who believed that avoiding pregnancy was not very important were most likely to report pregnancy likelihood (odds ratio [OR], 5.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.80‐9.69), as were young adults who considered avoiding a pregnancy to be important but who were not satisfied with their current contraceptive method (OR, 3.93; 95% CI, 1.67‐9.24) and who attended religious services frequently (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.52‐5.94), were uninsured (OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.31‐5.26), and were likely to have unprotected sex in the next 3 months (OR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.04‐3.01). Discussion These results may help guide future research and the development of pregnancy‐prevention interventions targeting sexually experienced young adults.