Population Center

With 33 population scientists, the Center enhances the Institute's capabilities to serve fertility and reproductive health researchers and educate the general public.

 

The Guttmacher Center for Population Research Innovation and Dissemination enhances the Institute’s capabilities to serve researchers in the field as well as educate the general public, expand and formalize training and development activities for the Institute’s own researchers, and build collaborations with colleague organizations. The Center includes population scientists from the disciplines of demography, sociology, and public health, along with policy and communications affiliates.

The signature theme of the Center is fertility and reproductive health; Center affiliates have collectively made extensive contributions to and published in this area of study, including work on fertility preferences, pregnancy intentions and outcomes; sexual behavior, contraceptive use and contraceptive services; and adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Thematic issue teams and a seminar series in which Center affiliates solicit feedback on their ongoing research, as well as collaborations with the World Health Organization, the African Population Health and Research Center (Nairobi, Kenya), Johns Hopkins University and others, support the Institute’s research objectives and the work of Center affiliates. The Center is also a member of APLIC.


STAFF

Population Center Directors

  • Kathryn Kost

    Director of Domestic Research
    Director of the Population Center

  • Ann Moore

    Principal Research Scientist
    Associate Director of the Population Center

Population Center Affiliates

Population Center Support Staff

  

 

Guttmacher Center for Population Research Innovation and Dissemination Datasets

A high priority for the Guttmacher Center for Population Research Innovation and Dissemination is to make available to the research community datasets created by Guttmacher Institute researchers and partners. These datasets span a wide range of topics in the area of sexual and reproductive health. Researchers who would like to obtain any of the datasets listed below will be able to locate them at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) website using the links listed with each dataset. Others will be added to this list and publicized when they are prepared for public use.

2014 Abortion Patient Survey (APS)

The 2014 Abortion Patient Survey was the Guttmacher Institute’s fifth in a series and uses a design and questionnaire similar to the four earlier studies, which were conducted in 1987, 1994–1995, 2000–2001 and 2008. The data are from a nationally representative sample of women obtaining non-hospital abortions in 2014. A total of 8,380 abortion patients provided information about the demographic characteristics of age, race and ethnicity and educational attainment, as well as contraceptive use in the month they became pregnant, health insurance coverage during the time period of the abortion, how they were paying for abortion services, foreign-born status, and how long ago they made the appointment.

This dataset is available at: https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/163962/version/V1/view


2012–2014 Continuity and Change in Contraceptive Use Study

The Continuity and Change in Contraceptive Use study assessed contraceptive use patterns in the United States by collecting data from a nationally representative probability sample of more than 4,600 women who were aged 18–39 at baseline. Women completed four online surveys (one every six months) between 2012 and 2014. The longitudinal data collected allow examination of patterns of contraceptive use and a wide range of issues that inform those patterns, including pregnancy motivation, life events, relationship dynamics and access to health care.

This dataset is available at: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/37067


2011–2012 Uganda Post-Abortion Care Costing Study

The Uganda Post-Abortion Care Costing Study includes data on 1,338 women who received postabortion care at health facilities across Uganda in 2011­–2012. Data were collected from the women themselves, each patient’s principal postabortion care provider and the Ministry of Health. The dataset includes information on women’s individual and household socioeconomic characteristics and the type and cost of treatment they received, as well as how their abortion complications affected children in the household, productivity (of the respondent and other household members) and economic circumstances.

This dataset is available at: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/36971


2009–2010 Survey of HIV Status and Fertility Preferences in Sub-Saharan Africa

(Community-based Survey of Zambian Women)

This survey is one of eight surveys conducted in Zambia and Nigeria that explore how HIV status relates to attitudinal and behavioral measures regarding HIV services and fertility preferences. This dataset comes from a community-based survey of 1,441 Zambian women aged 18–49 who were surveyed in 2009 and 2010. Information collected includes fertility desires, HIV status, pregnancy intention, current and previous pregnancies, family planning use, current and past sexual activity, past abortions, attitudes toward and knowledge about HIV, and use of HIV services. The other seven surveys within this project on HIV and fertility desires include information on male and female populations in Nigeria and Zambia collected in communities and at health facilities.

This dataset is available at: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/DSDR/studies/36718


2010 Survey of U.S. Publicly Funded Family Planning Clinics (Clinic Survey)

The Guttmacher Institute has a long history of studying U.S. publicly funded family planning clinics and conducting sample surveys to better understand and document the clinic network’s range of service delivery practices and the challenges it faces. These data are from a survey of a nationally representative sample of publicly funded family planning clinics conducted in 2010–2011, and are both an extension of earlier surveys and an investigation of new topic areas relevant to the provision of clinic services today.

This dataset is available at: https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/163961/version/V1/view


2009 National Survey of Reproductive and Contraceptive Knowledge

(“Fog Zone” study)

This survey was the first of its kind to focus in depth on the attitudes and behavior of unmarried young adults regarding pregnancy planning, contraception, and related issues. Commissioned by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, the survey gathered detailed results from a nationally representative probability sample of 1,800 unmarried men and women aged 18–29. The survey includes information on awareness of and knowledge about the various types of available birth control, information sources, the pervasiveness of popular myths and misconceptions and the frequency of contraceptive use. The study also gathered data on sexual relationship and pregnancy experiences.

This dataset is available at: https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/164142/version/V1/view


2008 Abortion Patient Survey (APS)

The 2008 Abortion Patient Survey was the Guttmacher Institute’s fourth in a series and used a design and questionnaire similar to those for three earlier studies, which were conducted in 1987, 1994–1995 and 2000–2001. The data are from women obtaining abortions at a nationally representative sample of health facilities in 2008. A total of 9,493 abortion patients at 95 facilities provided information about demographic characteristics, contraceptive use in the month they became pregnant, health insurance coverage, how they were paying for abortion services, foreign-born status, happiness about the current pregnancy, knowledge about the pregnancy, abortion-related stigma, and other topics.

This dataset is available at: https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/152081/version/V1/view


Protecting the Next Generation Data Available to Other Researchers

The National Survey of Adolescents was launched in 2004 in four Sub-Saharan African countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda, to provide detailed information on risk-taking and health-seeking behavior as related to HIV, STDs and unintended pregnancy among adolescents 12-19. The study examined a range of factors (e.g., behavioral, sociocultural, economic) that could lead to increased vulnerability of risk. The study also encompassed knowledge of means of prevention, sources of trusted information and health care, and impediments to adolescents' abilities to apply their knowledge and take preventive action. Survey data are available for download or online data analysis from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.

This dataset is available at: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/series/227 


Provision of Sexuality Education in Secondary Schools, 2015

This study aimed to document how existing sexuality education policies and curricula are implemented in schools in developing countries through case studies of 4 countries. These data come from ten of twelve surveys: principals, teachers and students in Ghana and Kenya, and teachers and principals in Guatemala and Peru. In each country, three regions were purposively selected to represent geographic, ethnic and cultural diversity. In each region, we selected a representative sample of secondary schools, for a total of 60-80 schools in each country. The surveys of principals and teachers were interviewer-administered, and elicited detailed information on the content, approach and format of teaching sexuality education in each of the sampled schools, assessment methods, teacher training, and opinions on successes and failures of the program. The survey of students was self-administered at school with detailed guidance from fieldworkers. It assessed students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding sexuality and reproductive health, obtained opinions on strengths and weaknesses in the curriculum and teaching, and asked for their preferences regarding content, teaching approach, format and timing of the sexuality education program.

The datasets are available at: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/DSDR/studies/38440


Contraceptive Needs and Services, 1994–2016 (public access pending)

These data come from surveillance activities conducted by the Guttmacher Institute over several decades, collecting or compiling data for the period 1994 through 2016. These activities track the numbers of women who have a potential demand for contraceptive care (because they are of reproductive age, sexually active and not seeking to become pregnant), the numbers of women who receive contraceptive services from publicly funded clinics, and the numbers of clinics providing publicly supported contraceptive services. These efforts have been conducted periodically, typically about every five years. The most recent data were collected or compiled for 2015 (women served) and 2016 (women with potential demand for services).


Guttmacher Data Center

Researchers may also wish to access the Guttmacher Data Center, which allows one to build and download customized data tables and maps at the state and national level for the U.S. and for 150 countries.