[Practice of abortion among teenagers: a study in ten schools of Maceió (AL, Brazil)].

Cien Saude Colet

Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Alagoas. Campus A. C. Simões, Tabuleiro dos Martins. 57072-900 Maceió AL.

Published: May 2011

This is a cross-cut study that was carried out with the objective of investigating the causes through which adolescents have provoked abortion, relating it to age and the type of school attended. The sample was calculated by taking into account the number of hospital admissions for post-abortion curettage. A semi-structured and anonymous questionnaire was used as a research instrument which was applied in ten schools randomly chosen among all schools, of Maceió (Alagoas, Brazil), to reach 12-19 years old female teenagers. The data were assessed by the Epi Info Program making use of odds ratio and a relative risk to verify any association among variables and a confidence interval at 95%. At a sample of 2,592 adolescents, 559 (21.6%) had an active sexual life, 182 (7.0%) informed to have been pregnant and 149 (26.7%) to have aborted. The fear of the parents' reaction, age, lack of support of the partner and pregnancy rejection were the explanation to stimulate abortion. Fear was the most mentioned cause in both types of school. Abortion was more mentioned in public schools, being significant and protective the risk of aborting before the age of 15. The fear of the parents' reaction as a frequent cause suggests the necessity for additional studies on sexuality and communication between parents and children.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1413-81232011000500016DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

ten schools
8
schools maceió
8
fear parents'
8
parents' reaction
8
[practice abortion
4
abortion teenagers
4
teenagers study
4
study ten
4
schools
4
maceió brazil]
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!