Shedding light on attitudes towards pregnancy among Inuit adolescents from Nunavik

ABSTRACT

Better understanding attitudes toward pregnancy – a potent predictor of adolescent pregnancy – could help explain the high adolescent pregnancy rate in Nunavik, Canada. The objective of this study was to assess the distribution of different attitudes toward pregnancy and the factors associated with high pregnancy likelihood attitudes (HPLA; favourable, indifferent, and ambivalent), focusing on the perceived benefits of childbearing (BOC). T-tests, chi-square tests, and logistics regressions were performed based the answers of 159 Inuit women aged 16 to 20 years from the Qanuilirpitaa? survey. About 43% were ambivalent, 16% favourable, 5% indifferent, and 35% unfavourable toward pregnancy. Bivariate analysis indicate that the HPLA group was more likely to work, to report less frequent positive interactions, and to show a higher BOC score compared to others. Multivariate analysis show that an increased BOC score was associated with HPLA (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.01 − 1.18). Perceiving that a baby would strengthen the relationship with the other parent (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.15 − 2.37) and that it would help to access housing were individually associated with HPLA (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.02 − 2.10). Findings provide evidence to support Inuit adolescents’ reproductive choices.

KEYWORDS:

• Attitudes toward pregnancy
• ambivalence
• adolescent pregnancy
• Inuit
• benefits of childbearing

Acknowledgments

Authors wish to thank all the young women who participated in this project. We are also grateful to our partners and collaborators: Jeannie Calvin, the Kativik Regional Government; the Kativik Ilisarniliriniq School Board; the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services; the Nunavik Nutrition and Health Committee; the municipal councils of all 14 communities of Nunavik; the Institut national de santé publique du Québec; and Qanuilirpitaa? principal investigator, co-principal investigators, Inuit co-principal investigators, and the Qanuilirpitaa? Steering and Data Management Committees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The World Health Organization (2014) [67] defines adolescent pregnancy as a pregnancy occurring in women aged 19 years or younger.

² Inuit from Nunavik.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Nunavik Regional Board Health and Social Services, the Minister of Health and Social Services of Quebec, ArcticNet, Makivik Corporation, the Kativik Regional Government, the Kativik Ilisarniliriniq School Board, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.