Overall and Differential Sociodemographic Effects of Adverse Life Events on the Risk of Unintended Pregnancy During Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Kelli Hall , Emory University
Jennifer Beauregard, Emory University
Shelby Rentmeester, Emory University
Melvin Livingston, Emory University
Kathleen Mullan Harris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

We drew upon 15 years of data from 8,810 adolescent and young adult females in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Using 40 time-varying adverse life events measured across 4 Waves (ALE), we created an additive index score whereby higher scores indicated greater ALE experiences. We employed Cox proportional hazard models, including race- and income-stratified models, to estimate the effects of ALE scores on time to first unintended pregnancies, controlling for sociodemographic, health and reproductive covariates. Among all women, a one-unit increase in ALE scores was associated with an increased rate of unintended first pregnancy (adjusted Hazard Ratio 1.11, 95% Confidence Interval=1.04-1.17). In stratified models, higher ALE scores increased rates of unintended first pregnancies among African-American (aHR=1.12, CI=1.01-1.25), Asian (aHR 1.69, CI=1.26-2.26), and White women (aHR=1.12, CI=1.03-1.22) and women in the lowest ($0-$19,999; aHR=1.21, CI = 1.03-1.23) and highest (>$75,000; aHR=1.36, CI=1.12-1.66) income categories, but not among the other sociodemographic groups.

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 Presented in Session 43. Consequences of Adversity in Childhood and Young Adulthood