Female and male decision-making regarding whether to continue or abort an unintended pregnancy: a secondary analysis of the FECOND study

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to explore partner agreement in unintended pregnancy decisions and to describe predictors of female and male perceived agreement with their partner regarding the decision to continue or terminate the pregnancy.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the FECOND study, a population-based probability telephone survey conducted in France in 2010 comprising 8645 respondents aged 15–49 years. Pregnancy data were reported by individuals (not couple-level data). For female- and male-reported unintended pregnancies, we used generalised estimation equation models to estimate the odds of a female-only (disagreement) versus a joint (agreement) decision to continue or terminate an unintended pregnancy.

Results: The decision to continue an unintended pregnancy was reported as joint in 82% of female- and 88% of male-reported pregnancies. Pregnancy continuation was more likely to be perceived as female-only versus a joint decision if men perceived initial pregnancy intention disagreement (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 5.9; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 2.0, 16.9), if women indicated finances were very difficult at the time of conception (aOR 3.0; 95% CI 1.7, 5.2) and if women or men reported an unstable relationship at the time of conception (aOR 10.0; 95% CI 6.1, 16.4; aOR 55.3; 95% CI 15.8, 193.0). The decision to terminate an unintended pregnancy was reported as joint in 61% of female- and 74% of male-reported pregnancies. Pregnancy termination was more likely to be perceived as a female-only decision if women reported an unstable relationship at the time of conception (aOR 3.8; 95% CI 2.3, 6.2).

Conclusion: Pregnancy intention disagreement and finance/relationship status at the time of conception inform partner agreement about the decision to continue or end an unintended pregnancy.

摘要

目的：我们目的是探究伴侣对意外妊娠决定的一致性, 并描述男性及女性在决定继续或终止妊娠时他们的伴侣的感知一致性的预测因子。

方法：这是对FECOND研究的二次分析, FECOND研究是2010年在法国进行的一项基于人口的概率的电话调查, 包括8645名15-49岁的受访者。妊娠数据是由个体报告（不是夫妻水平的数据）。对于女性和男性报告的意外怀孕, 我们使用广义估计方程模型来估计只有女性（不同意）及双方（同意）决定继续或终止意外怀孕的几率。

结果：据报道82%的女性及88%的男性同时决定继续意外妊娠。如果男性认为最初的妊娠意向不一致, 那么继续妊娠更有可能被认为只有女性参与, 而不是共同决定（调整优势比[aOR]5.9；95%的置信区间[CI]2.0, 16.9）；如果女性表示妊娠时经济状况困难时（aOR 3.0;95%CI 1.7,5.2), 如果女性或男性报告在妊娠时关系不稳定时（aOR 10.0 95%CI 6.1, 16.4；aOR 55.3 95%CI 15.8,193.0)。据报道, 61%的女性和74%的男性同时决定终止意外妊娠。如果妇女报告在妊娠时关系不稳定, 则终止妊娠更可能被视为只有女性作出的决定(aOR 3.8; 95% CI 2.3, 6.2)。

结论：妊娠意愿的不一致和妊娠时的经济/关系状况会决定伴侣是否会继续或终止意外妊娠的决定

Keywords:

• Pregnancy continuation
• pregnancy decisions
• pregnancy termination
• unintended pregnancy

Acknowledgements

We thank the women and men who participated in the FECOND study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The FECOND study was supported by a grant from the French Ministry of Health, a grant from the French National Research Agency [#ANR-08-BLAN-0286-01; principal investigators N. Bajos, C. Moreau] and funding from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and the National Institute for Demographic Research (INED). The grant award process included external peer review for scientific quality. As this study is a secondary analysis of FECOND study data, the funders did not play a role in conducting the research or in preparing this publication.