Decades of research have attempted to understand the paradox of stubbornly high unintended pregnancy rates despite widespread use of contraception. Much of this research has focused on socioeconomic disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy, finding that economically disadvantaged women tend to use less effective contraceptive methods and use them less consistently. Building on this research, this study examines how material hardship is associated with less consistent contraceptive use among women who do not desire to become pregnant. Using the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) Study, a weekly longitudinal survey, I find lower levels of contraceptive use and less consistent use of contraception among women experiencing material hardship, relative to those without hardship experiences. I also investigate the extent to which this association is explained by access barriers and lower contraceptive efficacy among women experiencing hardship. Using structural equation modeling, I find that these mediators significantly explain the relationship between hardship and risky contraceptive behaviors, suggesting that hardship creates mental and resource constraints that impede successful implementation of contraception. However, net of these mediators, material hardship remains associated with riskier contraceptive behaviors among young women, calling for further research on how hardship exposes women to greater risk of unintended pregnancies.

中文翻译：

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过渡到成年期间的物质困难和避孕药具的使用

尽管广泛使用避孕措施，但数十年的研究试图了解意外怀孕率居高不下的悖论。这项研究的大部分内容都集中在意外怀孕率的社会经济差异上，发现经济上处于不利地位的妇女倾向于使用效果较差的避孕方法，并且使用这些方法的持续性也较低。在这项研究的基础上，本研究调查了物质困难与不想怀孕的女性避孕药具使用不一致之间的关系。使用关系动态和社会生活 (RDSL) 研究（一项每周纵向调查），我发现与没有经历过困难的女性相比，经历过物质困难的女性的避孕措施使用水平较低，而且避孕措施的使用一致性较低。我还调查了这种关联在多大程度上是由遇到困难的妇女的获取障碍和较低的避孕效果来解释的。使用结构方程模型，我发现这些中介显着解释了困难与风险避孕行为之间的关系，表明困难会造成阻碍成功实施避孕的心理和资源限制。然而，除去这些中介因素，物质困难仍然与年轻女性风险较高的避孕行为有关，因此需要进一步研究困难如何使妇女面临更大的意外怀孕风险。我发现这些中介显着解释了困难与风险避孕行为之间的关系，表明困难会造成阻碍成功实施避孕的心理和资源限制。然而，除去这些中介因素，物质困难仍然与年轻女性风险较高的避孕行为有关，因此需要进一步研究困难如何使妇女面临更大的意外怀孕风险。我发现这些中介显着解释了困难与风险避孕行为之间的关系，表明困难会造成阻碍成功实施避孕的心理和资源限制。然而，除去这些中介因素，物质困难仍然与年轻女性风险较高的避孕行为有关，因此需要进一步研究困难如何使妇女面临更大的意外怀孕风险。