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Related Experiment Videos

Born unwanted, 35 years later: the Prague study.

Henry P David1

  • 1Transnational Family Research Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA. henrydavid@comcast.net

Reproductive Health Matters
|May 23, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Children born after denied abortion faced greater risks for negative psychosocial development and poorer mental health in adulthood. This long-term study tracked individuals from unwanted pregnancies compared to controls, revealing consistent disadvantages.

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The mental health of adults born of unwanted pregnancies, their siblings, and matched controls: a 35-year follow-up study from Prague, Czech Republic.

The Journal of nervous and mental disease·2002

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Mental Health Research
  • Reproductive Health Studies

Background:

  • A prevailing belief suggests unwanted births correlate with adverse psychosocial outcomes.
  • The Prague Study was initiated to empirically investigate this long-held hypothesis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the long-term psychosocial development and mental health of individuals born from unwanted pregnancies.
  • To compare outcomes of children born after abortion denial with those from accepted pregnancies.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal follow-up of 220 individuals born from unwanted pregnancies (abortion denied twice).
  • Pair-matched comparison with 220 controls from accepted pregnancies, assessed across multiple waves from childhood to adulthood.
  • Inclusion of siblings in later waves to control for confounding familial factors.

Main Results:

  • Individuals from unwanted pregnancies exhibited consistently poorer psychosocial development over time, though differences narrowed around age 30.
  • Higher rates of psychiatric hospitalization were observed in the unwanted pregnancy group compared to controls and their siblings.
  • Only children born from unwanted pregnancies showed particularly pronounced negative outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Denial of abortion for unwanted pregnancies is associated with an increased risk of negative psychosocial development.
  • Adverse mental health outcomes persist into adulthood for individuals born from unwanted pregnancies.
  • The findings underscore the potential long-term psychological impact of unwanted births.

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