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Unplanned Pregnancy in Adolescents: Association with Family Structure, Employed Mother, and Female Friends with Health-Risk Habits and Behaviors

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Abstract

Previous publications have suggested that living in a nonintact family household and socializing with girlfriends who smoke or who consume alcoholic beverages favor the development of health-risk habits and customs in adolescents. However, their relationship with unplanned pregnancy in adolescents has not been determined. We investigated the association between family structure, employed mother, and female friends with health-risk habits and behaviors with unplanned pregnancy in adolescents (n = 3,130). After adjusting for low maternal educational level and low family income, logistic regression analyses showed that having an employed mother and socializing with girlfriends who have health-risk habits or behaviors, rather than living in a nonintact family household, appear to be the most important health-risk factors for unplanned pregnancy in adolescents. It is important for health-care programs for adolescents to be revised and for their strategies be strengthened in order to reach the objectives for which they were created.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Mixed Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Research CONACYT—Tamaulipas State Government. Grant code: TAMPS-2011-C35-176437.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research, Faculty of Medicine, Autonomous University of Tamaulipas (UAT), Tampico, Mexico

    Francisco Vázquez-Nava, Atenógenes H. Saldívar-González, Jorge Felizardo-Ávalos & Wilberto Sánchez-Márquez

  2. General Hospital of Zone with Family Medicine No. 32, Social Security Mexican Institute, Minatitlán, Veracruz, Mexico

    Carlos F. Vázquez-Rodriguez

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Minatilán Veracruzana University, Minatitlán, Veracruz, Mexico

    Eliza M. Vázquez-Rodríguez

  4. Delegation Southern State of Veracruz, Mexican Social Security Institute, Veracruz, Mexico

    José A. Córdova-Fernández

  5. Calle Abraham Ángel 32, Col. Privada Paraiso, 96535, Cd. Coatzacolacos, Veracruz, Mexico

    Carlos F. Vázquez-Rodriguez

Authors
  1. Francisco Vázquez-Nava
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  2. Carlos F. Vázquez-Rodriguez
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  3. Atenógenes H. Saldívar-González
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  4. Eliza M. Vázquez-Rodríguez
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  5. José A. Córdova-Fernández
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  6. Jorge Felizardo-Ávalos
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  7. Wilberto Sánchez-Márquez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlos F. Vázquez-Rodriguez.

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Vázquez-Nava, F., Vázquez-Rodriguez, C.F., Saldívar-González, A.H. et al. Unplanned Pregnancy in Adolescents: Association with Family Structure, Employed Mother, and Female Friends with Health-Risk Habits and Behaviors. J Urban Health 91, 176–185 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-013-9819-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-013-9819-6

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