Unplanned pregnancy among active-duty Army females as a readiness issue

Unplanned pregnancy creates significant problems for active-duty female soldiers and also elicits concern among military leaders when planning for mobilization. The purpose of this three-group comparative survey is to ascertain probable reasons for unplanned pregnancy occurrence that will be useful in developing appropriate interventions directed at decreasing the incidence of such pregnancies. Active-duty female soldiers (n = 112) in-processing at a large military installation responded to a 41-item questionnaire focused on respondents' reproductive histories, beliefs and knowledge about contraception, and contraceptive use. Descriptive statistics, the Kruskal-Wallis One-Way Analysis of Variance, and Chi-Square non-parametric statistical tests were used for analysis of the data. Findings revealed that when compared to the two post-adolescent groups, the adolescent female soldiers reported: (a) a greater number of sexual partners, (b) greater frequency of intercourse, (c) less knowledge about the reproductive cycle, and (d) greater non-use of any birth control method.