An exploratory study of life-change events, social support and pregnancy decisions in adolescents

This exploratory, descriptive study investigated the relationship of life-change events and family and social support to decision making in pregnant adolescents. The convenience sample consisted of 43 subjects aged 14 to 18 years coming to two midwestern clinics for pregnancy testing. Instruments were the Adolescent Life Change Event Questionnaire and the Demographic and Social Support Questionnaire. Data analysis involved three groups: continue the pregnancy (N = 30); abort (N = 9); and undecided (N = 4). Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks was used to test for differences between groups on overall life-change unit (LCU) scores and social support scores. Chi square, Fisher Exact Tests and step method multiple discriminant analysis were used to determine if specific life changes were more associated with particular outcome decisions. While not statistically significant, the overall LCU scores were higher and the social support scores lower for the continue group than for the abortion group. Subjects in the abortion group were younger, more likely to have experienced "getting grounded," and more involved in school and social activities. More subjects in the continue group reported personal and family health problems.