Know thyself--adolescents' self-assessment of compliance behavior

Noncompliance with contraception is a major cause of adolescent pregnancy. Studies of compliance predictors have produced conflicting results. The possibility that female adolescents' assessment of their own past compliance with other medications may be useful in predicting their future contraceptive compliance is explored. Accordingly, patients beginning an oral contraceptive regimen described their past compliance on a four-point scale, and a subset, in addition described themselves on the basis of a five-point scale ranging from "forgetful" to "well-organized." At 6-month follow-up, 75% of the patients were found to have described themselves accurately in terms of potential compliance behavior. Of patients who proved compliant, 64% had initially rated themselves as "well-organized" whereas none of the noncompliant patients had done so. These findings demonstrate the potential importance of the teenagers' self-assessment in determining those at risk for contraceptive noncompliance. The findings also suggest that compliance behavior among female adolescents may be generalizable across clinical situations, rather than being disease or medication specific.