Pregnancy Resolution and Family Formation

Abstract

This article examines gender differences in adolescents' personal views about pregnancy resolution and family formation as they relate to a vignette describing their involvement in an unplanned pregnancy within the context of an ongoing, stable relationship. We use a sample of 577 White and Black high school students from a metropolitan, midwestern city to contrast males' and females' preferences and beliefs about pregnancy resolution and family formation. Although similar percentages of males and females preferred abortion and adoption as strategies for handling their own pregnancy, females were more likely than males to select arrangements that involved living with their children, and they were more likely than males to choose single custodial parenting as their first preference. For those young people choosing some form of parental rearing, observed gender differences in the preference for forming a two-parent household were explained by adolescents' beliefs about their parents' and friends' expectations and their personal concerns about having their educational career adversely affected.