Motivations for adolescents' first visit to a family planning clinic
Schwartz, D.B.; Darabi, K.F.
Adolescence 21(83): 535-545
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-8449 PMID: 3812061 Document Number: 281856
This paper presents findings from a descriptive study concerning the motivating factors and events which led Hispanic and black teenagers to attend the Young Adult Clinic (YAC) at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Between November 1983 and April 1984, 150 young women who were making their 1st visit to the YAC were interviewed to determine what motivating factors or events influenced their decisions to seek fertility-related services on a given day. These interviews represent the 3rd stage of a 3-part study aimed at identifying barriers to the use of family planning services among Hispanic adolescents and how some young people overcome them. The interviews also assessed whether parents, friends, or boyfriends knew or encouraged the visit. In addition, the questionnaire gathered background information, pregnancy histories, prior contraceptive use, and whether the teenager ever thought that she had been pregnant or ever had a late period. The majority of the teenagers were between 16 and 19 years old at the time of the interview. Nearly 1/2 were Hispanic and slightly fewer were black. Very few of the young women were married, and only 1 out of 10 lived away from parents or other relatives. 85% of the teenagers had initiated sexual activity before their 1st visit to the YAC. The average age of 1st intercourse was about 16 years, although black adolscents tended to be slightly younger than Hispanics. The average Hispanic adolescent was almost 19 and the average black was almost 18 at their 1st visit to the YAC. For teenagers who had never used birth control, and for those who had never attended a clinic, the average length of time between 1st intercourse and 1st visit to the YAC was longer for Hispanics than for blacks. Hispanic contraceptive-seekers were much more likely to have experienced a prior pregnancy than were their black counterparts. Clinic-related reasons e.g. convenience of hours for the clinic visit, predominated in both groups.