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Title: The Push and the Pull: Adolescents' Expectations for Early Pregnancy
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Smith, Chelsea |
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The Push and the Pull: Adolescents' Expectations for Early Pregnancy Presented: New York NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2013 Cohort(s): NLSY97 Publisher: American Sociological Association Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Adolescent Sexual Activity; Life Course; Pregnancy, Adolescent; Risk-Taking; Substance Use Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Expecting to become pregnant in the near future―a major influence on later behavior—separates adolescents in terms of both their current circumstances and future prospects. The author used categorical measures and multinomial logistic regression to examine expectations for pregnancy within the next 5 years using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort (NLSY97). The sample consisted of respondents in late adolescents, a critical age period when young people’s future plans begin to change from hypothetical ideas to actual realities. With a foundation in theories of the life course, social control, and reasoned action, the goals of this study were: to determine how risky behavior may increase (“push up”) pregnancy expectations and academic success may decrease (“pull down”) expectations, and to examine how such associations may differ by gender and age. Overall, results suggested that risky behavior did act as a push factor and academic success did act as a pull factor, but gender differences were more pronounced for push factors and age differences were more pronounced for pull factors (though not always in the hypothesized direction). Substance use was a common factor whereas delinquency and early sexual activity mattered only for adolescent boys. Academically, gifted classes indeed acted a pull factor for boys but GPA was associated with higher pregnancy expectations for girls. Interaction effects demonstrated that these associations tended to be strongest among younger adolescents. This study revealed that the most disadvantaged young people held higher expectations for experiencing early pregnancy, especially among boys. |
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Bibliography Citation
Smith, Chelsea. "The Push and the Pull: Adolescents' Expectations for Early Pregnancy." Presented: New York NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2013. |