Trauma Exposure and Adolescent Attitudes Toward Having a Baby: An Exploratory Survey

Overview

Journal Contracept X

Specialty Reproductive Medicine

Date 2021 Mar 5

PMID 33665605

Authors

Karina M Shreffler

Stacy Tiemeyer

Ronald B Cox Jr

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the association between childhood trauma exposure (i.e., extent of interpersonal trauma experienced in childhood) and attitudes toward teen parenthood.

Study Design: We used a cross-sectional sample of 416 urban middle and high school male and female students from Tulsa, OK recruited through a local public school district mailing list. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine odds of reporting having a baby would make life worse, better, or cause no change according to childhood trauma score.

Results: Approximately 8% of students and their guardians responded to the mailed survey invitation. Among the students, 67% reported having a baby would make their lives worse; 17% reported it would not change their lives much, and 16% reported having a baby would make their lives better. Each increase in trauma score was associated with a 9% increase in reporting an indifferent attitude ( < 0.001) and a 15% increase in reporting a positive attitude toward having a baby ( < 0.01). After controlling for a wide range of sociodemographic, attitudinal, and sexual history variables, childhood trauma remained associated with a positive attitude toward having a baby (<.01), but not an indifferent attitude toward having a baby.

Conclusions: Greater childhood trauma exposure is associated with indifferent and positive attitudes toward having a baby during adolescence.

Implications: Screening for childhood trauma and utilizing interventions designed to reduce the harmful effects of trauma exposure in childhood may offer a more targeted approach to adolescent pregnancy prevention strategies.

References

Dietz P, Spitz A, Anda R, Williamson D, McMahon P, Santelli J . Unintended pregnancy among adult women exposed to abuse or household dysfunction during their childhood. JAMA. 1999; 282(14):1359-64. DOI: 10.1001/jama.282.14.1359. View

Copeland W, Keeler G, Angold A, Costello E . Traumatic events and posttraumatic stress in childhood. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007; 64(5):577-84. DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.64.5.577. View

Manlove J, Fish H, Moore K . Programs to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health in the US: a review of the evidence. Adolesc Health Med Ther. 2015; 6:47-79. PMC: 4396579. DOI: 10.2147/AHMT.S48054. View

Tigges B . Parental consent and adolescent risk behavior research. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2003; 35(3):283-9. DOI: 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2003.00283.x. View

Noll J, Shenk C, Putnam K . Childhood sexual abuse and adolescent pregnancy: a meta-analytic update. J Pediatr Psychol. 2008; 34(4):366-78. PMC: 2722133. DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsn098. View

Costello E, Erkanli A, Fairbank J, Angold A . The prevalence of potentially traumatic events in childhood and adolescence. J Trauma Stress. 2002; 15(2):99-112. DOI: 10.1023/A:1014851823163. View

Liu C, Cox Jr R, Washburn I, Croff J, Crethar H . The Effects of Requiring Parental Consent for Research on Adolescents' Risk Behaviors: A Meta-analysis. J Adolesc Health. 2017; 61(1):45-52. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.01.015. View

Jaccard J, Dodge T, Dittus P . Do adolescents want to avoid pregnancy? Attitudes toward pregnancy as predictors of pregnancy. J Adolesc Health. 2003; 33(2):79-83. DOI: 10.1016/s1054-139x(03)00134-4. View

Klein J . Adolescent pregnancy: current trends and issues. Pediatrics. 2005; 116(1):281-6. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2005-0999. View

10.

Hillis S, Anda R, Felitti V, Marchbanks P . Adverse childhood experiences and sexual risk behaviors in women: a retrospective cohort study. Fam Plann Perspect. 2001; 33(5):206-11. View

11.

Kearney M, Levine P . Why is the teen birth rate in the United States so high and why does it matter?. J Econ Perspect. 2012; 26(2):141-66. DOI: 10.1257/jep.26.2.141. View

12.

Lawson D, Quinn J . Complex trauma in children and adolescents: evidence-based practice in clinical settings. J Clin Psychol. 2013; 69(5):497-509. DOI: 10.1002/jclp.21990. View

13.

Anda R, Felitti V, Douglas Bremner J, Walker J, Whitfield C, Perry B . The enduring effects of abuse and related adverse experiences in childhood. A convergence of evidence from neurobiology and epidemiology. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2005; 256(3):174-86. PMC: 3232061. DOI: 10.1007/s00406-005-0624-4. View

14.

Isobel S, Goodyear M, Furness T, Foster K . Preventing intergenerational trauma transmission: A critical interpretive synthesis. J Clin Nurs. 2018; 28(7-8):1100-1113. DOI: 10.1111/jocn.14735. View

15.

Francis J, Malbon K, Braun-Courville D, Lourdes L, Santelli J . Ambivalence about pregnancy and its association with symptoms of depression in adolescent females initiating contraception. J Adolesc Health. 2014; 56(1):44-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.07.002. View

16.

Herrman J, Waterhouse J . What do adolescents think about teen parenting?. West J Nurs Res. 2010; 33(4):577-92. DOI: 10.1177/0193945910381761. View

17.

Hillis S, Anda R, Dube S, Felitti V, Marchbanks P, Marks J . The association between adverse childhood experiences and adolescent pregnancy, long-term psychosocial consequences, and fetal death. Pediatrics. 2004; 113(2):320-7. DOI: 10.1542/peds.113.2.320. View

18.

Afable-Munsuz A, Speizer I, Magnus J, Kendall C . A positive orientation toward early motherhood is associated with unintended pregnancy among New Orleans youth. Matern Child Health J. 2005; 10(3):265-76. DOI: 10.1007/s10995-005-0049-8. View

19.

Finer L . Unintended pregnancy among U.S. adolescents: accounting for sexual activity. J Adolesc Health. 2010; 47(3):312-4. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.02.002. View

20.

Bruckner H, Martin A, Bearman P . Ambivalence and pregnancy: adolescents' attitudes, contraceptive use and pregnancy. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2005; 36(6):248-57. DOI: 10.1363/psrh.36.248.04. View