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Published on: August 2, 2017
Reasons for unprotected intercourse: analysis of the PRAMS survey
Mary D Nettleman1, Hwan Chung, Jennifer Brewer
1Department of Medicine, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA. mary.nettleman@ht.msu.edu
Objectives:
This study was conducted to identify reasons why women had unprotected intercourse that led to an unintended pregnancy.
Methods:
As part of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey, women with a recent unintended viable pregnancy were asked after the birth why they had not used birth control.
Results:
Of 7856 respondents, 33% felt they could not get pregnant at the time of conception, 30% did not really mind if they got pregnant, 22% stated their partner did not want to use contraception, 16% cited side effects, 10% felt they or their partner were sterile, 10% cited access problems and 18% selected "other." Latent class analysis showed seven patterns of response, each identifying strongly with a single reason.
Conclusions:
Almost half of women with viable unintended pregnancies ending in a birth felt they could not/would not get pregnant at the time of conception. Most women identified with a single reason for having unprotected intercourse.
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