Objectives
This study aimed to assess variation in three measures of pregnancy and childbearing attitudes across sociodemographic characteristics and over time.
Study design
We used Survey of Women data from Arizona, New Jersey, and Wisconsin to compare responses between single-item measures of wanting to avoid pregnancy and childbearing and the Desire to Avoid Pregnancy (DAP) scale, as well as across two time points (2019–2020 and 2022–2023).
Results
The three measures were consistent across age and race/ethnicity categories, while the DAP scale reflected differences by financial status. There was an increase in the proportion of respondents who wanted to avoid childbearing (79% [95% CI 78%–81%] vs 82% [95% CI 81%–84%]) and in mean DAP scores (2.51 [95% CI 2.46–2.55] vs 2.62 [95% CI 2.58–2.67]) over time.
Conclusions
The ways in which people are asked about their pregnancy attitudes may yield different results.
Implications
Health professionals and researchers should consider using multiple items to measure pregnancy attitudes, understanding that variations may reflect the composition and social location of their samples.