Unintended Pregnancy and the Relationship Context

Ellen K. Wilson, Research Triangle Institute
Helen P. Koo, Research Triangle Institute

The context of women's lives, in particular their relationships with their partners, is increasingly recognized as an important determinant of their attitudes toward pregnancy. The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of women's relationships that may increase their risk of unintended pregnancy. Data are drawn from an integrated quantitative and qualitative study conducted as the third follow-up of the Longitudinal Study of Contraceptive Choice and Use Dynamics. Analysis of the qualitative data suggests that women's feelings about pregnancy are influenced by the quality of their relationships with their current partners and their expectations of them as fathers. This paper uses multinomial logistic regression models to test the hypotheses that women who are in good and stable relationships with their partners and expect more support are more likely to get pregnant, more likely to be happy about their pregnancies and more likely to consider them intended.