205192 Teenage pregnancy from low-income adolescent males' perspective

Wednesday, November 11, 2009: 9:10 AM

Emily H. Yen , Sociology, Smith College, Northampton, MA
The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate among Western

industrialized nations. Poverty is positively correlated with teenage pregnancy. Over 10,000 youth between the ages of 10 and 18 participated in the Mobile Youth Study, a multi-cohort longitudinal study on risk behavior, between 1998 and 2008. Within highly impoverished neighborhoods in Mobile County, Alabama African American adolescent males were more desirous of pregnancy than their female counterparts. Using a stratified random sample, 100 African American males between the ages of 14 and 18 who participated in Mobile Youth Survey in 2008, were selected from three public housing neighborhoods in Mobile, Alabama. Participants took a paper survey on their attitudes towards teenage fatherhood and participated in a taped oral interview at their home. Each interview was administered individually. There was a 100% participation rate and an 87% finding rate. The findings from the survey show that 67% of adolescent males would be slightly happy if they impregnated someone during the next year.

Learning Objectives:
Identify high levels of pregnancy desire in low-Income African American adolescent males. Analyze social factors related to male pregnancy desire.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conducted this research while a student at Smith College and a research assistant at the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Public Health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Men's Voices: Pregnancy and Contraception
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