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Updated: May 10, 2026

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
Published on: June 13, 2021
The association between prepregnancy parental support and control and adolescent girls' pregnancy resolution
Aubrey Spriggs Madkour1, Yiqiong Xie, Emily W Harville
1Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA. aspriggs@tulane.edu
Purpose:
To examine the influence of prepregnancy parental support and control on adolescent girls' pregnancy resolution decisions.
Methods:
Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were analyzed. Girls whose first pregnancy reported in wave IV occurred after wave I and before age 20 were included (n = 1,107). Participants self-reported pregnancy disposition (abortion, ectopic or tubal pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, live birth) for each pregnancy; responses were dichotomized as abortion versus other. Girls' perceptions of parental support and control were measured at wave I. Controls were included for wave I age, age at pregnancy, year at the end of pregnancy, race/ethnicity, and parent characteristics (i.e., education, religious affiliation, age at first marriage, and educational expectations). Weighted multivariable logistic regression models were performed.
Results:
Approximately 18% of girls reporting a teen pregnancy reported having an abortion. In crude analyses, parental support was marginally negatively related to abortion (odds ratio [OR] = .83, p = .06) and parental control was significantly negatively related to abortion (OR = .78, p = .02). In multivariable analyses, higher parental control was significantly negatively related to abortion versus other pregnancy outcomes (adjusted OR .80, 95% confidence interval .66-.98). Perceived parental support was unassociated with pregnancy resolution decisions. The only other factor associated with abortion decisions was parent education: odds of choosing abortion versus other pregnancy outcomes were significantly higher for adolescent girls whose parents had a bachelor's degree or greater versus those with lower educational attainment.
Conclusions:
Pregnant adolescents with less educated parents or parents exercising greater control were less likely to have an abortion.
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