Pregnant women's perspectives on intendedness of pregnancy

Moos, Merry-K; Petersen, Ruth; Meadows, Katherine; Melvin, Cathy L.; Spitz, Alison M.

doi:10.1016/s1049-3867(97)00081-9

Cited by 97 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In a study based on the 1995 US National Survey of Family Growth, Trussell et al (1999) reported that 31% of pregnancies resulting from a contraceptive failure were described as "intended", that many of those becoming pregnant while using a method considered the timing to be "about right", and that 25% of those with unintended pregnancies were either "happy" or "very happy" to be pregnant. This study together with related evidence that reported intention can change during pregnancy (Joyce et al 2000;Poole et al 2000), that the concept of planning is often poorly understood (Moos et al 1997;Barrett and Wellings 2002;Kendall et al 2005), and that pregnancy intentions are subject to much ambivalence (Sable and Libbus 2000;Zabin et al 2000;Schwarz et al 2007;Kavanaugh and Schwarz 2009;Schwartz et al 2010) has prompted considerable reflection on the complexity of intentionality in relation to pregnancy and fertility control (Bachrach and Newcomer 1999;Luker 1999;Zabin 1999;Santelli et al 2003;Esacove 2008;Barber et al 2010;Greil and McQuillan 2010). A vivid illustration of the ambiguity of intentional states is McQuillan et al's (2010) finding that 23% of a sample of sexually active women were neither trying to become pregnant nor trying to avoid pregnancy, but were "okay either way".…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Uncertainty in fertility intentions in Britain, 1979-2007

Bhrolcháin

Beaujouan²

2012

Populationyearbook

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The paper uses a time series of repeated rounds of the General Household Survey in Great Britain to study uncertainty in fertility intentions. We show that a substantial minority of women are uncertain in their expectations about future childbearing. A comparison of reported uncertainty in GHS rounds 1979-1990 with 1991-2007 reveals that the estimated level of uncertainty is influenced by question format. At the individual level, uncertainty varies largely with demographic status and life stage-age, partnership status, parity and time since previous birth. Evidence from qualitative and quantitative studies, particularly in relation to pregnancy intentions, reinforces the reality of uncertainty about reproductive prospects. We suggest that the measurement of fertility intentions needs improvement. A new theoretical approach to fertility intentions is outlined in brief.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Uncertainty in fertility intentions in Britain, 1979-2007

Bhrolcháin

Beaujouan²

2012

Populationyearbook

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“…37 The concept "Intendedness of pregnancy" is complex and it would probably be better to treat it as a continuous rather than a bicategorical variable. 38 As the intention to plan a pregnancy is not a universal wish, but is related to sociocultural and religious values, 39 women are often ambivalent about their intention to become pregnant or not. 15 It has been shown that the perception of intendedness of pregnancy that women have varies during the gestational period and after the delivery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion Decision

et al. 2007

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Pregnancy planning allows women to better control their life trajectory and contributes to the future child's health and development. Many studies that have analyzed socioeconomic inequalities in unintended pregnancy only took into account those pregnancies ending in births. Few of them that analyzed unintended pregnancy, including both induced abortion and births, and its socioeconomic determinants, concluded that unintended pregnancy is more frequent in young, poor, or unmarried women. These inequalities have been poorly studied in Europe, especially in the southern European context. The aim of the present study is to describe socioeconomic inequalities in unintended pregnancy and in abortion decision in Barcelona, Spain. The major findings are that unintended pregnancies accounted for 41% of total pregnancy and of these, 60% ended in abortion. From all pregnancies, the proportion of induced abortion reached 25.6%. Compared to women with university studies, those with primary education uncompleted had more unintended pregnancies (OR=7.22). When facing an unintended pregnancy, women of lower socioeconomic position are more likely to choose induced abortion, although this is not the case among young or single women. This study reveals deep socioeconomic inequalities in unintended pregnancies and abortion decision in Barcelona, Spain, where the birth rate is very low and the abortion rate is rising. Women in low socioeconomic positions have many more unintended pregnancies than better educated women. Except for young or single women, the lower the socioeconomic position, the higher the proportion of women who choose an induced abortion when facing an unintended pregnancy.

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“…The US study by Moos et al (1997) and the recent British FPA study (FPA, 1999) suggested that lower income women were less likely to plan or wish to plan their pregnancies. Moos et al went so far as to say that even the concept of a ''planned'' pregnancy was not meaningful some lower socioeconomic group women.…”

Section: Fischers Et Al's Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One US study, carried out in 1996 with 18 pregnant women using depth interviews, provided information on how women understood these terms (Fischer, Stanford, Jameson, & DeWitt, 1999) Moos, Petersen, Meadows, Melvin, & Spitz (1997) investigated concepts of planning using focus groups of young pregnant African-American women and white women of low or marginal income status in North Carolina, and in Britain the Family Planning Association commissioned a market research company to carry out focus groups and interviews with women of different ages and socioeconomic status to explore attitudes to planning (FPA, 1999). Previous studies have also found that it is not always possible to fit women's pregnancies into the dichotomous categories of ''planned'' and ''unplanned'' (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%