We propose new research to investigate unintended pregnancies and their social context. Our approach will provide new estimates of the prevalence of unintended pregnancy, new insights into the social context producing unintended pregnancies, and new measurement strategies that can be adapted by major national studies of unintended pregnancy and related topics. To advance our understanding of the processes leading to unintended pregnancy among young women, this project has four aims: (1) Collect new detailed, dynamic measures of unintended pregnancy;(2) Collect new detailed, dynamic measures of behavioral, attitudinal, and community context aspects of relationships, contraceptive use, pregnancy, and activities that compete with childbearing;(3) Provide alternative estimates of the prevalence of unintended pregnancy based on new, prospective measurement strategies and directly compare these new prevalence estimates to those based on national studies;and (4) Determine which behavioral, attitudinal, and contextual aspects of relationships, contraceptive use, and activities that compete with childbearing increase unintended pregnancy rates during the transition to adulthood. To meet these aims, we propose a five-year study that begins with ethnography, cognitive interviewing, and a pilot study - all coordinated with an advisory group of national data collection leaders - to finalize the data collection instruments we will use. Next we will conduct face-to-face interviews with 1250 18 and 19-year-old women in one county in Michigan, along with a thirty month journal follow-up study. Over the thirty month period, these women will provide weekly updates about behavioral and attitudinal aspects of their relationships, contraceptive use, pregnancies, and competing activities via Internet and Interactive Voice Response (telephone) technologies. We will also conduct semi-structured follow-up interviews with approximately 10 percent of the women who experience pregnancies and a control group of young women who do not become pregnant. At the conclusion of the journal follow-up period, women in the study will complete the individual interview used for Cycle 7 of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Adjusting for potential testing-response interactions, the NSFG-style measurement will provide a comparison between the weekly journal-based estimates and the national estimates of unintended pregnancy and related factors. Our analyses of the journal measures will feature state-of-the-art dynamic event history models using the fully detailed timing information to document the interconnections among behavioral, attitudinal, and contextual aspects of relationships, contraceptive use, activities that compete with childbearing, and unintended pregnancy. The results will produce essential new insights into the processes surrounding this high priority public health and public policy concern.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD050329-04
Application #
7840445
Study Section
Social Sciences and Population Studies Study Section (SSPS)
Program Officer
Newcomer, Susan
Project Start
2007-05-01
Project End
2012-04-30
Budget Start
2010-05-01
Budget End
2011-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$568,634
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Miscellaneous
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Kusunoki, Yasamin; Barber, Jennifer S; Gatny, Heather H et al. (2018) Physical Intimate Partner Violence and Contraceptive Behaviors Among Young Women. J Womens Health (Larchmt) 27:1016-1025
Miller, Warren B; Barber, Jennifer S; Gatny, Heather H (2018) MEDIATION MODELS OF PREGNANCY DESIRES AND UNPLANNED PREGNANCY IN YOUNG, UNMARRIED WOMEN. J Biosoc Sci 50:291-311
Barber, Jennifer S; Kusunoki, Yasamin; Gatny, Heather et al. (2017) The Relationship Context of Young Pregnancies. Law Inequal 35:
Compernolle, Ellen L (2017) Disentangling Perceived Norms: Predictors of Unintended Pregnancy During the Transition to Adulthood. J Marriage Fam 79:1076-1095
Weitzman, Abigail; Barber, Jennifer; Kusunoki, Yasamin et al. (2017) Desire for and to Avoid Pregnancy during the Transition to Adulthood. J Marriage Fam 79:1060-1075
Miller, Warren B; Barber, Jennifer S; Schulz, Paul (2017) Do perceptions of their partners' childbearing desires affect young women's pregnancy risk? Further study of ambivalence. Popul Stud (Camb) 71:101-116
Ela, Elizabeth J; Budnick, Jamie (2017) Non-Heterosexuality, Relationships, and Young Women's Contraceptive Behavior. Demography 54:887-909
Wu, Justine P; Kusunoki, Yasamin; Ela, Elizabeth J et al. (2016) Patterns of Contraceptive Consistency among Young Adult Women in Southeastern Michigan: Longitudinal Findings Based on Journal Data. Womens Health Issues 26:305-12
Barber, Jennifer; Kusunoki, Yasamin; Gatny, Heather et al. (2016) Participation in an Intensive Longitudinal Study with Weekly Web Surveys Over 2.5 Years. J Med Internet Res 18:e105
Hayford, Sarah R; Guzzo, Karen Benjamin; Kusunoki, Yasamin et al. (2016) Perceived Costs and Benefits of Early Childbearing: New Dimensions and Predictive Power. Perspect Sex Reprod Health 48:83-91

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