Contraceptive behavior among sexually active Hispanic adolescents

The purpose of this study was to examine those factors associated with the contraceptive behavior of a national representative sample of Hispanic female adolescents. The subjects included all ( n = 85) unmarried, sexually active Hispanic women, aged 15 to 19, from the 1982 National Survey of Family...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Journal of adolescent health 1990-11, Vol.11 (6), p.490-496
Hauptverfasser: Durant, Robert H., Seymore, Carolyn, Pendergrast, Robert, Beckman, Rebecca
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:The purpose of this study was to examine those factors associated with the contraceptive behavior of a national representative sample of Hispanic female adolescents. The subjects included all ( n = 85) unmarried, sexually active Hispanic women, aged 15 to 19, from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth. Contraceptive behavior was measured on a normalized scale, ranging from oral contraceptives to no contraception. Mexican/American and Central/South American background females were more likely ( p < 0.031) to use effective birth control than Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Hispanic background subjects. Twenty additional social, behavioral, and demographic variables were found to be significantly associated ( p < 0.05) with contraceptive behavior. Based on multiple regression analysis, seven of these variables were found to explain 62% ( p < 0.0001) of the variation in the contraceptive behavior of this sample. Poorer contraceptive behavior was associated with noncompliance with the initial birth control method used (33.8%), lower coital frequency (8.3%), older postmenarchial age (5.7%), failure to use birth control at first coitus (4.6%), fewer years dating (4.0%), lower frequency of church attendance (3.3%), and never having experienced a pregnancy scare (2.0%). These findings suggest that the contraceptive behavior of Hispanic female adolescents is a dynamic process that can be understood in the context of previous sexual and contraceptive behavior.
ISSN:0197-0070
1054-139X
DOI:10.1016/0197-0070(90)90108-E