Adolescents from different socioeconomic backgrounds had different attitudes about teen pregnancy
QUESTION: What are the attitudes of adolescent women about sex, contraception, and adolescent pregnancy?
Design
Ethnography.
Setting
Bristol, UK.
Participants
34 young women (16–22 y) were recruited from young mothers' groups, general practices, young people's sexual health clinics, and by snowball sampling; 16 were young mothers or were pregnant and most (n=24) lived in socioeconomically “disadvantaged” circumstances.
Methods
Data were collected through indepth interviews and participant observation of 4 different young mothers' groups. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Descriptive accounts and accompanying field notes were organised around major themes within the context of young women's sexual and emotional relationships and social circumstances.
Main findings
Attitudes towards adolescent pregnancy. Young women from disadvantaged backgrounds thought the ideal age for starting a family was 17–25 years. Women from advantaged backgrounds wanted to wait until their late 20s or early 30s, emphasising career, university, money, and personal development; these women said they would be likely to have an abortion if they became pregnant during adolescence. Some of …
