Sociocultural factors related to the decision of the type of delivery in Ecuadorian adolescents

Foundation: Confronting motherhood in adolescence has serious implications for the life of the mother and her descendant. It is a process influenced by various social, cultural, economic and biological factors. Objective: to describe the relationship between sociocultural factors and the decision of the type of delivery in Ecuadorian adolescents. Methods: cross- descriptive, study. A number of 574 adolescents were studied from the city of Machala, Ecuador, in 2016, applying a personal survey. The relationship between the decision of the type of delivery with the variables age, residence, parity, religion and instruction was established in this group of adolescents; and the statistical association derived from these relationships was defined. Results: the greater preference was towards trans-pelvic childbirth, with 82.4%. 70.2% of the adolescents belonged to urban areas, and 66.2% of them did not have previous births. The majority of them decided to have a trans-pelvic childbirth, despite the reasoning given regarding different sociocultural factors. There was a significant statistical relationship between the reasoning and the decision. Conclusion: the sociocultural aspects addressed do not influence the decision of the desired type of delivery; rather, their decision may lead to problems of another kind. Only religious beliefs and reasoning that served as the basis for the election were manifested as influential factors.