Reproductive consequences of unwanted sexual debut among young adult women from Metro Cebu, Philippines.
Melissa Wiles, Sonny Agustin, Subasri Narasimhan and 1 others
PMID 29667518WHAT IT FOUND
Unwanted first sex was linked to unintended pregnancy among 397 young women from Metro Cebu.
Once other factors were taken into account, no links were found for number of pregnancies or ever using modern contraception.
Key findings
01286 of 397 young women reported that their first sexual experience was unwanted, combining going along, happening anyway, and happening against their will.
02Women with unwanted first sex were more likely to report at least one unintended pregnancy, 64% versus 46%, and the link remained after accounting for other factors.
03After accounting for other factors, unwanted first sex was not linked to number of pregnancies or ever use of modern contraception.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was an observational study, so it cannot show that unwanted first sex caused the later outcomes. The sample was limited to women from one Philippine birth cohort who had started having sex by 2005 and remained in the survey; 38 women were lost to follow-up before 2009. The unintended pregnancy analysis included only 360 women who had experienced at least one pregnancy. Unwanted first sex was self-reported and grouped broadly, including women who did not want it but went along, it happened anyway, or it happened against their will. Sensitive topics may have been underreported, and pregnancy intentions were also recalled retrospectively. Contraception was measured only as ever use, not current or continued use, so it cannot show whether contraception use explains the association.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that unwanted first sex causes unintended pregnancy. This is an observational association in one Philippine birth cohort, and once other factors were taken into account, links with number of pregnancies and ever using modern contraception were not found.