CONTEXT:
Unintended
pregnancy is a stressful life event with important implications for women's
health. Little research has examined sexual minority women's (SMW; lesbian,
bisexual, mostly heterosexual) experiences of unintended pregnancy, and no
studies have examined the relationship between unintended pregnancy, mental
health, and negative coping behaviors in this population.
METHODS:
We used
the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) Study (n = 454), a
diverse sample of SMW, to examine the relationship between self-reported
unintended pregnancy, depressive symptoms, and hazardous drinking. We used
generalized linear model-building techniques and adjusted for key
sociodemographic controls, as well as unintended pregnancy risk factors,
including childhood physical and sexual abuse and age of sexual debut.
RESULTS:
Twenty-four
percent of the sample reported an unintended pregnancy. SMW who reported
unintended pregnancies also reported significantly more depressive symptoms and
greater risk of hazardous drinking. Adjusting for childhood abuse explained the
relationship between unintended pregnancy and depressive symptoms, but not the
relationship between unintended pregnancy and hazardous drinking.
CONCLUSIONS:
Unintended
pregnancy among SMW is an understudied topic. Our results suggest that
unintended pregnancy is not uncommon among SMW and highlight the need for more
research to investigate the mechanisms that link unintended pregnancy to
depression and to hazardous drinking within this population.
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- 1 Department of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.
- 2 Department of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
- 3 Department of Health Systems Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
- J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2016 Mar 15.
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