In the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life Study (RDSL), 95% of 18- and 19-year-olds report a strong desire to avoid pregnancy in the baseline interview. Yet, 233 (24%) reported a pregnancy over the next 2.5 years. We are using RDSL data to further our understanding of young women's desires for pregnancy, which is fundamentally important for reducing unintended pregnancy.
Pregnancy Desires
Funding Support
Dynamic Measures of Pregnancy Intentions and Subsequent Pregnancy
R03HD077051. NICHD. 2014-2016. $100,000. Jennifer Barber, PI.
Distal Determinants of Race-Ethnic Variation in Unintended Fertility
R01HD078412. NICHD. 2014-2018. $425,000. Karen Guzzo, PI.
A Comparison of Attitudes, Intentions, and Behaviors of Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Young Women: Evidence from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) Study
Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, Freedman Fund. 2012-2013. $9,000. Yasamin Kusunoki, PI.
Young Women's Relationships, Contraception, and Unintended Pregnancy
R01HD050329. NICHD. 2007-2012. ~$2 million. Jennifer Barber, PI.
Related Publications
Barber, Jennifer, Karen B. Guzzo, Jamie Budnick, Sarah R. Hayford, Yasamin Kusunoki, and Warren B. Miller. 2020 (forthcoming). "Black-White Differences in Pregnancy Desire during the Transition to Adulthood." Demography.
Barber, Jennifer S., Warren Miller, Yasamin Kusunoki, Sarah Hayford, and Karen Guzzo. 2019. "Intimate Relationship Dynamics and Changing Desire for Pregnancy among Young Women." Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 51(3):143-152. DOI.
Guzzo, Karen Benjamin, Sarah R. Hayford, Vanessa Wanner Lang, Hsueh-Sheng Wu, Jennifer S. Barber, Yasamin Kusunoki. 2019. "Dimensions of Reproductive Attitudes and Knowledge Related to Unintended Childbearing Among U.S. Adolescents and Young Adults." Demography 56:201-228.
Barber, Jennifer S., Yasamin Kusunoki, Heather H. Gatny, and *Jamie Budnick. 2018. "The Dynamics of Intimate Partner Violence and the Risk of Pregnancy during the Transition to Adulthood." American Sociological Review 83(5):1020-1047.
Miller, Warren, Jennifer S. Barber, and Heather H. Gatny. 2018. "Mediation Models of Pregnancy Desires and Unplanned Pregnancy in Young, Unmarried Women." Journal of Biosocial Science 50(3): 291-311.
Weitzman, Abigail, Paula England, Yasamin Kusunoki, and Jennifer S. Barber. 2017. "Desire for and to Avoid Pregnancy during the Transition to Adulthood." Journal of Marriage and Family 79(4):1060-1075.
Miller, Warren B., Jennifer Barber, and Paul Schulz. 2017. "Do Perceptions of Their Partners Affect Young Women’s Pregnancy Risk? Further Study of Ambivalence." Population Studies 70(3):1-16.
Barber, Jennifer, Yasamin Kusunoki, Paul Schulz, and Heather Gatny. 2016. "Effects of Intensive Longitudinal Data Collection on Pregnancy and Contraceptive Use." International Journal of Social Research Methodology 19(2):205-222.
Hayford, Sarah, Jennifer S. Barber, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, and Yasamin Kusunoki. 2016. "Perceived Costs and Benefits of Early Childbearing: New Dimensions, Racial Disparities, and Predictive Power." Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 48(2): 83-91.
Barber, Jennifer S., Jennifer Eckerman Yarger, and Heather H. Gatny. 2015. "Black-White Differences in Attitudes Related to Pregnancy." Demography 52:751-86.
Miller, Warren B., Jennifer Barber, and Heather Gatny. 2013. "The Effects of Ambivalent Fertility Desires on Pregnancy Risk in Young Women in the USA." Population Studies 67(1):25-38.
Moreau, Caroline, Kelli Stidham Hall, James Trussell, and Jennifer Barber. 2013. "Effect of Prospectively Measured Pregnancy Intentions on the Consistency of Contraceptive Use among Young Women in Michigan." Human Reproduction 28(3):642-650.