Education and the resolution of teenage pregnancy in Australia
Ann Evans
Centre for Social Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
PP: 027 - 042
Abstract
Research on the decision to continue or terminate a teenage pregnancy is sparse. This paper seeks to address this gap in research by analysing the educational dimensions of the decision to continue or terminate a teenage pregnancy using data collected in a purpose specific survey in Australia.
The paper begins by exploring the timing of pregnancy, abortion and birth in relation to leaving or finishing high school. It then examines the associations between education factors and the decision to terminate or continue a teenage pregnancy. Completed level, school marks and subject preference were all found to discriminate between those who continued and those who terminated their pregnancies.
The findings suggest that young women who have a stronger attachment to school are more likely to terminate than continue their pregnancies, particularly for young women in rural and regional Australia.
Keywords
teenage pregnancy; education; abortion; pregnancy resolution
References
Cooksey E (1990) Factors in the resolution of adolescent premarital pregnancies, Demography 27(2): 207-218.
Duncombe P (1986) The educator's role in reducing unplanned teenage pregnancy, Youth Studies Australia 5(2): 28-31.
Eisen M, Zellman GL, Leibowitz A, Chow WK and Evans JR (1983) Factors discriminating pregnancy resolution decisions of unmarried adolescents, Genetic Psychology Monographs 108: 69-95.
Evans A (1999) Young women's pregnancy survey, 1998 [computer file]. Canberra: The Australian National University.
Evans A (2003) The outcome of teenage pregnancy: temporal and spatial trends, People and Place 11(2).
Evans J, Selstad G and Welcher W (1976) Teenagers: fertility control behavior and attitudes before and after abortion, childbearing or negative pregnancy test, Family Planning Perspectives 8(4): 192-200.
Fergusson D and Woodward L (2000) Teenage pregnancy and female educational underachievement: A prospective study of a New Zealand birth cohort, Journal of Marriage and the Family 62(1): 147-161.
Grunseit A, Kippax S, Aggleton P, Baldo M and Slutkin G (1997) Sexuality education and young people's sexual behaviour: A review of studies, Journal of Adolescent Research 12(4): 421-453.
Kirby D (2002) Effective approaches to reducing adolescent unprotected sex, pregnancy and childbearing, Journal of Sex Research 39(1): 51-57.
Lamb S, Dwyer P and Wyn J (2000) Non-completion of school in Australia: The changing patterns of participation and outcomes, ACER Research Report No. 16. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Leibowitz A, Eisen M and Chow W (1986) An economic model of teenage pregnancy decision-making, Demography 23(1): 67-77.
Miller B and Moore K (1990) Adolescent sexual behavior, pregnancy and parenting: Research through the 1980s, Journal of Marriage and the Family 52: 1025-1044.
Plotnick RD (1992) The effects of attitudes on teenage premarital pregnancy and its resolution, American Sociological Review 57(6): 800-811.
Ralph N, Lochman J and Thomas T (1984) Psychosocial characteristics of pregnant and nulliparous adolescents, Adolescence 19(74): 283-294.
Selman P and Glendinning C (1995) Teenage parenthood and social policy, Youth and Policy 47: 39-58.
Yamaguchi K and Kandel D (1987) Drug use and other determinants of premarital pregnancy and its outcome: A dynamic analysis of competing life events, Journal of Marriage and the Family 49(2): 257-270.
eContent Home
