Background

Nearly half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended. Unintended pregnancy refers to a mistimed or unwanted pregnancy. Unwanted and mistimed pregnancies are often distinguished from each other because of the negative social connotations and poorer health outcomes associated with unwanted pregnancies. However, mistimed pregnancies also pose significant economic, societal, and health burdens that necessitate enhanced risk factor identification and prevention efforts.

Purpose

Religion and religious practices are important to consider as potential risk factors for mistimed pregnancy as over 70% of Americans identify as religious. However, little research exists on the potential religious factors-mistimed pregnancy association. The purpose of this study was to evaluate this association among women using contraception in the U.S.

Methods

This analysis used National Survey of Family Growth data. Women (n = 2841) self-reported measures of religion, religiosity and pregnancy timing. Logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals.

Results

After adjustment, women who reported currently being Catholic, Protestant, or another religion had statistically significant increased odds of mistimed pregnancy compared to women with no current religious affiliation (Catholic OR = 2.31, Protestant OR = 1.41, Other OR = 2.58). Women who reported that religion was very important or somewhat important had statistically significant increased odds of mistimed pregnancy (Very Important OR = 1.82, Somewhat Important OR = 1.60). More frequent service attendance was associated with statistically significant decreased odds of mistimed pregnancy. Specifically, women who reported attending services 2–3 times a month or 1 or more times per week had nearly half the odds of mistimed pregnancy compared to women who never attended services (OR = 0.54 and OR = 0.51).

Conclusions and Implications

This study provides insight into the interrelationship of religion as a sociocultural risk factor for mistimed pregnancy and found that while religiously active women had increased odds of mistimed pregnancy, frequency of service attendance was a protective factor against mistimed pregnancy. Given that approximately half of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, additional studies are needed to further understand cultural mechanisms that may be important risk factors of unintended pregnancy, and to confirm this study’s findings.

中文翻译：

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宗教会影响使用避孕方法的女性对怀孕时间的知觉吗？

背景

在美国，几乎有一半的怀孕是意外的。意外怀孕是指时机错误或意外怀孕。由于不良的社会内涵和与意外怀孕相关的健康状况较差，通常将不必要和错误的怀孕彼此区分开。但是，怀孕时机不当也会给经济，社会和健康造成沉重负担，因此有必要加大对危险因素的识别和预防力度。

目的

宗教和宗教习惯很重要，应被认为是怀孕时机错误的潜在危险因素，因为超过70％的美国人认为宗教信仰是潜在的。但是，关于潜在的宗教因素-误怀孕的关联研究很少。这项研究的目的是评估在美国使用避孕方法的女性之间的这种关联。

方法

该分析使用了全国家庭增长调查数据。妇女（n = 2841）自我报告了宗教，宗教信仰和怀孕时间的测量。使用Logistic回归获得比值比（OR）和95％置信区间。

结果

经过调整后，与目前没有宗教信仰的妇女相比，报告称目前为天主教徒，新教徒或其他宗教的妇女发生误怀孕的机率在统计学上显着增加（天主教徒OR = 2.31，新教徒OR = 1.41，其他OR = 2.58）。报告宗教信仰非常重要或有些重要的妇女在怀孕时机上有统计学上的显着增加（非常重要OR = 1.82，有些重要OR = 1.60）。频繁出勤与统计学上显着降低误孕率相关。具体来说，与从未上过服役的妇女相比，报告每月上班两次2-3次或每周上1次或多次上班的妇女的怀孕时机几率几乎是未参加过服役的妇女的一半（OR = 0.54和OR = 0.51）。

结论与启示

这项研究提供了对宗教作为孕期错误的社会文化风险因素的相互关系的见解，并发现尽管从事宗教活动的妇女孕期错误的几率增加，但出勤频率是预防孕期错误的保护因素。鉴于在美国大约有一半的怀孕是意料之外的，因此需要进一步的研究以进一步了解可能是意外怀孕的重要危险因素的文化机制，并确认本研究的结果。