Pregnancy Wantedness and Maternal Behavior During Pregnancy

Abstract

This analysis tests the proposition that women wanting their pregnancies and subsequent births behave differently during their pregnancies than other women. The data are drawn from the National Natality Survey conducted by the US National Center for Health Statistics a follow-back survey based on a probability sample of 9941 live births that occurred in the US in 1980. A sample of 7825 remained after exclusion of out-of-wedlock births. Pregnancy was measured with a series of questions directed towards the period previous to the pregnancy. Almost 29% had wanted to become pregnant but at a later time. 6.3% did not want to become pregnant at the time they did or ever. 31.35 of the women overall had smoked before their pregnancy and only 16% of these quit after pregnancy confirmation although the mean number of cigarettes smoked decreased. Variables indicating planning status and the tendency to seek prenatal care affected independently (although slightly) the probability that a prepregnant smoker would quit. The impact of pregnancy wantedness was smaller than anticipated with regard to the maternal behaviors examined. The degree of effectiveness of pregnancy planning could be underestimated by the studys elimination of unwanted and aborted pregnancies and by inaccuracies caused by maternal denial of pregnancy wantedness.