Family Planning Perspectives
Volume 33, Number 5, September/October 2001

 

The Effect of Partners' Characteristics on Teenage Pregnancy and Its Resolution
TABLES

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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© copyright 2001, The Alan Guttmacher Institute.