The quality of abortion decisions and college students' reports of post-abortion emotional sequelae and abortion attitudes.

Abstract

College students in general, and men in particular, have been essentially ignored in the post-abortion emotional sequelae literature. Therefore, the current sample consisted of 63 college students (31 females and 32 males) with prior histories regarding abortion. The primary objective of the present investigation was to examine various dimensions of abortion decisions (ambivalence, regret, and comfort) along with emotional connection to the fetus as possible predictors of self-reported anxiety and depression. A secondary objective was to assess the effectiveness of different components of abortion decisions and emotional connection to the fetus as predictors of abortion attitudes. The results indicated that a sizable proportion of college men and women do not take the abortion decision lightly. Furthermore, the quality of such decisions and emotional connection to the fetus may partially explain individual differences in post-abortion emotional sequelae. Implications of the findings are discussed.