Family Planning Perspectives | |
The Effect of Partners' Characteristics on Teenage Pregnancy and Its Resolution |
Table 1. Percentage of teenage women who became pregnant in their first voluntary nonmarital sexual relationship, by outcome, according to adjustment for abortion under- reporting, 1995 National Survey of Family Growth | ||
Pregnancy outcome | Unadjusted | Adjusted |
% pregnant | 14.7 | 17.5 |
Stillbirths and miscarriages | 1.8 | 1.8 |
Abortions | 3.0 | 5.8 |
Live births | 9.9 | 9.9 |
Marital | 2.9 | 2.9 |
Nonmarital | 7.0 | 7.0 |
Note: Unadjusted percentages are weighted using the sample weights, and adjusted percentages are weighted using the sample weights adjusted for underreporting of abortions. The sample includes 1,514 women aged 15-19 at the time of nonmarital first voluntary intercourse in 1982 or later. |
Table 2. Percentage distributions and means (and standard deviations) of characteristics of teenage women and their first sexual partner, according to sample | ||
Characteristic | Full sample | Women with pregnancy |
Woman's characteristics | ||
Mean age at first intercourse | 16.7 (1.2) | 16.5 (1.2) |
% distribution by race and ethnicity | ||
Black, non-Hispanic | 13.6 | 21.9 |
Hispanic | 10.4 | 22.0 |
Other race, non-Hispanic | 3.3 | 5.0 |
Non-Hispanic white (omitted category) | 72.7 | 51.1 |
% distribution by religious affiliation | ||
Catholic | 31.6 | 36.3 |
Baptist | 23.5 | 26.9 |
Other denomination | 34.6 | 25.9 |
None (omitted category) | 10.2 | 11.0 |
% distribution by frequency of church attendance | ||
Very frequent | 16.9 | 18.8 |
Frequent | 50.6 | 50.5 |
Infrequent or never (omitted category) | 32.4 | 30.6 |
Mother worked (%) | 69.8 | 65.0 |
Mother's mean yrs. of education | 12.3 (3.1) | 11.3 (3.8) |
Intact two-parent family (%) | 59.1 | 47.9 |
Partner's characteristics | ||
Mean age | 19.0 (3.2) | 19.0 (3.2) |
% distribution by race and ethnicity | ||
Non-Hispanic black | 15.3 | 23.4 |
Hispanic | 10.1 | 23.7 |
Other race, non-Hispanic | 2.7 | 3.7 |
Non-Hispanic white (omitted category) | 71.8 | 49.2 |
% distribution by religious affiliation | ||
Catholic | 34.4 | 35.8 |
Protestant | 44.9 | 45.9 |
Other or none (omitted category) | 20.6 | 18.3 |
% distribution by importance of religion | ||
Very important | 47.1 | 50.6 |
Not very important (omitted category) | 52.9 | 49.4 |
Mean yrs. of education at first intercourse | 11.5 (1.6) | 11.2 (1.7) |
Joint characteristics | ||
Different race/ethnicity (%) | 11.5 | 11.6 |
% distribution by age difference | ||
Woman older than partner | 6.1 | 8.0 |
Woman >=8 yrs. younger than partner | 5.9 | 5.9 |
Woman 2-7 yrs. younger than partner | 47.1 | 50.8 |
About same age (omitted category) | 40.9 | 35.3 |
Same religion (%) | 58.2 | 58.2 |
Note: Observations are weighted using the sample weights adjusted for underreporting of abortions. |
Table 3. Odds ratios from logistic regression models of the effects of woman's, partner's and joint characteristics on nonmarital pregnancy among teenage women in their first voluntary sexual relationship | ||||
Characteristic | Woman-only | Partner-only | Joint | |
Woman's characteristics | ||||
Age at first intercourse | 0.82** | na | 0.76** | |
Black, non-Hispanic | 2.30** | na | 2.41** | |
Hispanic | 3.20** | na | 3.33** | |
Other race, non-Hispanic | 2.13* | na | 2.33* | |
Catholic | 0.84 | na | 0.84 | |
Baptist | 0.73 | na | 0.68 | |
Other denomination | 0.66 | na | 0.60 | |
Very frequent church attendance | 1.23 | na | 1.21 | |
Frequent church attendance | 1.15 | na | 1.18 | |
Mother worked | 0.74* | na | 0.71* | |
Mother's education | 0.93** | na | 0.93** | |
Intact two-parent family | 0.62** | na | 0.63** | |
Partner's characteristics | ||||
Age | na | 1.02 | 1.11* | |
Non-Hispanic black | na | 2.37** | na | |
Hispanic | na | 4.73** | na | |
Other race, non-Hispanic | na | 2.33 | na | |
Catholic | na | 0.94 | 1.50 | |
Protestant | na | 1.10 | 1.83* | |
Very religious | na | 1.14 | 1.19 | |
Education at first intercourse | na | 0.87** | 0.91* | |
Joint characteristics | ||||
Different race or ethnicity | na | na | 0.86 | |
Woman older than partner | na | na | 2.15* | |
Woman >=8 yrs. younger than partner | na | na | 0.35 | |
Woman 2-7 yrs. younger than partner | na | na | 0.93 | |
Same religion | na | na | 0.65* | |
Log-likelihood | -1186.18 | -1201.90 | -1166.33 | |
*p<.05. **p<.01. Note: na=not applicable. |
Table 4. Odds ratios from multinomial logit regression models of the effects of woman's, partner's and joint characteristics on whether nonmarital teenage pregnancy ends in abortion or nonmarital birth instead of marital birth | |||||||||||||
Characteristic | Woman-only | Partner-only | Joint | ||||||||||
Abortion | Nonmarital birth | Abortion | Nonmarital birth | Abortion | Nonmarital birth | ||||||||
Woman's characteristics | |||||||||||||
Age at first intercourse | 1.34 | 1.28 | na | na | 1.22 | 1.22 | |||||||
Black, non-Hispanic | 10.98** | 23.53** | na | na | 13.26** | 34.25** | |||||||
Hispanic | 0.38* | 0.58 | na | na | 0.14** | 0.27 | |||||||
Other race, non-Hispanic | 0.29 | 0.36 | na | na | 0.37 | 0.43 | |||||||
Catholic | 2.13 | 0.92 | na | na | 1.17 | 0.55 | |||||||
Baptist | 0.62 | 0.41 | na | na | 0.60 | 0.33 | |||||||
Other denomination | 1.35 | 0.43 | na | na | 1.15 | 0.33 | |||||||
Very frequent church attendance | 0.39 | 0.95 | na | na | 0.35 | 1.00 | |||||||
Frequent church attendance | 0.49 | 0.66 | na | na | 0.45 | 0.60 | |||||||
Mother worked | 0.92 | 0.53 | na | na | 0.90 | 0.56 | |||||||
Mother's education | 1.14* | 1.02 | na | na | 1.14* | 1.02 | |||||||
Intact two-parent family | 0.79 | 0.70 | na | na | 0.76 | 0.77 | |||||||
Partner's characteristics | |||||||||||||
Age | na | na | 0.88* | 0.95 | 0.99 | 1.13 | |||||||
Non-Hispanic black | na | na | 6.45** | 22.43** | na | na | |||||||
Hispanic | na | na | 0.27* | 1.68* | na | na | |||||||
Other race, non-Hispanic | na | na | 0.14* | 1.40 | na | na | |||||||
Catholic | na | na | 1.39 | 0.63 | 1.40 | 0.78 | |||||||
Protestant | na | na | 0.29* | 0.35 | 0.16* | 0.19* | |||||||
Very religious | na | na | 0.54 | 0.50 | 0.59 | 0.62 | |||||||
Education at first intercourse | na | na | 1.47** | 0.98 | 1.31 | 0.89 | |||||||
Joint characteristics | |||||||||||||
Different race or ethnicity | na | na | na | na | 16.18* | 34.40** | |||||||
Woman older than partner | na | na | na | na | 0.28** | 0.29 | |||||||
Woman >=8 yrs. younger than partner | na | na | na | na | 0.13 | 0.07 | |||||||
Woman 2-7 yrs. younger than partner | na | na | na | na | 0.11* | 0.46 | |||||||
Same religion | na | na | na | na | 2.04 | 2.58 | |||||||
Log-likelihood | -1360.35 | -1360.35 | -1334.25 | -1334.25 | -1208.96 | -1208.96 | |||||||
*p<.05. **p<.01. Note: na=not applicable. |
© copyright 2001, The Alan Guttmacher Institute. |