Pubescent attitudinal correlates antecedent to adolescent illegitimate pregnancy

Differentiation of girls at risk of early pregnancy from the general population of adolescents

The purpose of this study was to examine two psychological characteristics (locus of control and purpose in life) that have been associated with early pregnancy. The characteristics were examined first in samples drawn from a general population of adolescents and then in samples of ever-pregnant and never-pregnant adolescents. Ever-pregnant girls differed neither from the general population of adolescents nor from the matched sample of never-pregnant girls on the two psychological dimensions. Alternatives for conceptualizing risk are proposed.

Locus of control and the use of contraception among unmarried black adolescent fathers and their controls: a preliminary report

This article presents preliminary data that examines the relationship between external locus of control and contraceptive use in a limited population of unmarried black adolescent fathers and their controls. Results reveal that black adolescent fathers are more likely to have an external locus of control, to not be church goers, and to not believe in the use of birth control. Policy implications of this research indicate that unmarried black adolescent fathers should be given birth control counseling; if other forms of counseling are warranted, attention should be paid to issues of locus of control.

A model of premarital coitus and contraceptive behavior among female adolescents

At the most general level, I seek to model female adolescent sexual and contraceptive behavior in terms of the social context in which it occurs. Drawing on emerging theoretical literature pertaining to social exchange theory and changes in the social positions of women (and men) and also on existing substantive literature, I apply these notions to adolescent sexuality and contraceptive usage. The reviews of the literature reveal a number of inconsistencies among those factors (variables) advanced to explain both the prevalence and frequency of premarital coitus and contraceptive employment. Furthermore, as there is a paucity of well-developed theoretical models that might explain these inconsistencies, what is needed is an additional study that seeks to examine the net effects of those variables used in the literature to explain variations in female premarital coitus and contraceptive use. The present formulation is a two-stage causal model that can be used to estimate the impact of these variables on premarital coital behavior (stage 1) and subsequent contraceptive usage (stage 2). These models, and a concomitant set of hypotheses, take into account an array of the more significant sociological and social psychological variables as far as the prediction of the two phenomena in question are concerned. These models may be useful in guiding future research as they graphically display the relationships between these sets of variables within the context of a more general theory of human behavior.