Abstract
Studied were 220 children born in 1961–1963 to Prague women twice denied abortion for the same pregnancy and 220 pair‐matched controls, whose mothers were also pair‐matched for socioeconomic status and the husband's or partner's presence in the home. All the children were born into intact homes, and they were medically, psychologically, and socially assessed at ages 9, 14–16, and 21–23. Findings show that differences between the two groups of children widened over time, always to the disadvantage of the unwanted children. In the aggregate, unwantedness in early pregnancy has a detrimental effect on children's psychosocial development. In adulthood, marital partners of the unwanted children were similar to their spouses. Families founded by men or women unwanted in early pregnancy were more problem‐prone than families founded by individuals wanted or accepted in early pregnancy. A further follow‐up at age 30 is in progress.
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