Predictors of adolescent female decision making regarding contraceptive usage
Green, V.; Johnson, S.; Kaplan, D.
Adolescence 27(107): 613-632
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-8449 PMID: 1414572 Document Number: 400728
Many sexually active adolescents do not use contraception. The authors explore the relationship of cognitive capacity,, cognitive egocentrism, and experience factors to teenage decision making about contraceptive usage. In the study sample of 50 sexually active, low SES, unmarried females aged 14-19, 20 did not use contraceptives, 8 sought prescriptions for contraceptives, 22 used contraception, 29 were white, and 21 black. Respondents were recruited in an adolescent medicine outpatient clinic in the southwestern US. None had been pregnant. Literature on the subject is 1st reviewed in the text. Studies have largely confined themselves to describing reasons given by teens for not contracepting. Analyses indicate that cognitive capacity and cognitive egocentrism are significantly related to and predictive of 5 of 7 decision-making variables considered in the study.