Is the Classic Indicator of Unintended Pregnancy Applicable in All Socio-Cultural Settings? Evidence from New Orleans

Aimee Afable-Munsuz, University of California, San Francisco
Jeanette Magnus, Tulane University
Carl Kendall, Tulane University

This presentation introduces one approach to measuring locally developed constructs of pregnancy intentionality; and to relating them to the classical National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) indicator of unintended pregnancy. Data from in-depth interviews with 77 women, 14 to 38 years of age, recruited at public family planning and prenatal clinics in New Orleans were used to develop a series of 8 questions to measure a construct called valorization of motherhood. The questions were then tested on a different sample of 783 African-American women 13-24 years of age from the same clinic populations. Factor analyses of the 8 questions used to capture valorization of motherhood suggest the presence of two latent constructs (Eigenvalues: 2.92 & 1.31; percent variance explained: 48.7 & 65.4). ANOVA analyses suggest a strong statistical association between the constructs and pregnancy experience (P<0.001); and no statistical association between the constructs and the NSFG intention categories.