Why female college students risk pregnancy: i just wasn't thinking

To explore the meaning or meanings of "I just wasn't thinking" as a reason for contraceptive risk-taking among women and to illuminate what this phrase actually means when used by women as an explanation for contraceptive risk-taking.

Forty-five in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with sexually active women on a college campus. Interviews were transcribed and coded thematically using NVivo 10.

"I just wasn't thinking" has multiple meanings. Major themes in women's explanations of the meaning were: 1) They pushed it to the back of their minds, that they did not think they would get pregnant; 2) they did not think about it due to impairment resulting from alcohol use; 3) they would deal with the possibility of pregnancy later; and 4) they did not think about contraception or pregnancy at all. Most of these responses were based on erroneous risk calculations that led the women to believe they were not likely to experience a pregnancy.

Reasons women give for noncontraceptive use may have deeper meanings. It is important for both clinicians and researchers to think about possible underlying meanings and to acknowledge that they may be different than the face value of the statement. In the future, clinical questioning of women about noncontraceptive use and research into reasons for noncontraceptive use should take into account the variability of just not thinking and include appropriate follow-up questions to clarify its meaning.