Adolescent Decision-Making and Contraceptive Behavior: San Francisco, 1984-1986

Investigators: Nancy E. Adler, Susan M. Kegeles, & Charles E. Irwin, Jr.

This study examined adolescents' decision-making regarding contraceptive use and its relation to their contraceptive and reproductive intentions and actual behavior. The four contraceptive methods most commonly used by adolescents were examined: the pill, diaphragm, condom, and withdrawal. The research used an expended version of the theory of reasoned action. The main hypothesis was that adolescents would engage in active decision-making. It was predicted that adolescents would act rationally and that their contraceptive intentions would follow from their beliefs, values, and perceptions of social norms surrounding the use of contraceptives. Measures included self reports of sexual behavior (e.g., number of partners, frequency of intercourse), contraceptive behavior, prior use of contraception, prior sexual behavior, pregnancy, assessment of decision processes relating to contraceptive use, beliefs and attitudes about and evaluation of the consequences of using contraception, perceptions of the wishes of others regarding the use of contraception, motivation to comply with the wishes of others concerning contraception, views of general social expectations regarding use of contraceptives, and intention to use contraceptives.

Adolescent Women's Contraceptive Decision Making Project, Baltimore City, 1988

Investigators: Carol Weisman and Stacey Plichta

The Adolescent Women's Contraceptive Decision-Making Project, Baltimore City, 1988 is a six-month, longitudinal study that explores the use of contraceptives among adolescent women. The objective of the study was to determine whether consistency of contraceptive use is associated with the young woman's social network (family, friends, and sexual partners) and their attitudes towards pregnancy and contraception. Respondents were surveyed at three points in time: At baseline, at 3 months, and at 6 months. A total of 430 cases and 2,678 variables are included in this study. Other topics addressed in the study include: demographics (household characteristics/composition, race, education, employment, religion, etc.); contraceptive behavior; and attitudes toward pregnancy and contraception.

Adolescent Women's Contraceptive Decision-Making Project, Baltimore City, 1988

Investigators: Carol Weisman & Stacey Plichta

This study explores the use of contraceptives among adolescent women. The objective of this longitudinal study was to determine whether consistency of contraceptive use is associated with the young woman's social network (family, friends, and sexual partners) and their attitudes towards pregnancy and contraception. Respondents were surveyed at three points in time: At baseline, at 3 months, and at 6 months. A total of 430 cases and 2,678 variables are included in this study. Other topics in the study include: demographics (household characteristics/composition, race, education, employment, religion, etc.); contraceptive behavior; and attitudes toward pregnancy and contraception.

Adolescents and Their Exposure to TV and Movie Sex, 1985

Investigators: Bradley S. Greenberg

The focus of the Adolescents and Their Exposure to TV and Movie Sex, 1985 study was to identify and examine the characteristics of adolescents which are associated with their media experience. Four groups of predictor variables were central to the project: demographic variables, family structure variables, self and social perceptions, and mediation variables. Data for this project were collected in the spring of 1985 through questionnaires. This study includes 376 variables for 1,462 adolescents aged 13-19. Students were asked to complete questionnaires that contained items pertaining to (1) media use patterns, (2) family characteristics, (3) mediation practices of parents, and (4) attitudes toward dating and sex roles. Following completion of the project, the 19 most frequently watched television programs (daytime and primetime) and 16 commercial movies were content analyzed to determine the adolescents' "diet" of media sex.

Alabama Adolescent Health Survey, 1993

Investigators: Steve Nagy

The 1993 Alabama Adolescent Health Survey was a modified version of the National Student Health Survey. Alabama Adolescents in grades 8 and 10 were surveyed in February and March. The survey included the following sections: demographic characteristics, exercise patterns, violence, sexual activity and abuse history, attitudes toward sexuality, attitudes toward education, time use patterns, health care history, mental health and suicide, assistance behavior, nutrition, substance use, and knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). This data set contains 115 variables and 6,268 cases.

Alan Guttmacher Institute National Survey of Contraceptive Use Among Women Having Abortions, 1987

Investigators: Stanley K. Henshaw, Jane Silverman, Jacqueline Darroch Forrest and Elise Jones

1987 Alan Guttmacher Institute National Survey of Contraceptive Use Among Women Having Abortions was a project aimed at producing reliable national estimates of contraceptive failure rates, corrected for the underreporting of abortions. Carried out in 1987, this project is a survey of abortion patients that was designed to fill the need for information on contraceptive use at the time of conception for pregnancies that ended in abortion. A total of 9,480 women who visited a provider to have an abortion in 1987 filled out questionnaires that asked about their recent contraceptive use and about the pregnancy being terminated. The inquiry also covered a variety of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics that parallel information obtained from National Survey of Family Growth respondents (see DAAPPP Data Set Nos. 26 and 27).

Alan Guttmacher Institute Survey of Reasons Women Choose Abortion, 1987-1988

Investigators: Aida Torres and Jacqueline Darroch Forrest

By means of a survey of abortion patients, the study addresses the question of why certain women elect to have an abortion. The study also examines why some women who have abortions obtain them fairly late in gestatiton. Nationally, 4% of abortions occur at 16 or more weeks of gestation. Medical data show that the normally low rates of complication and death associated with induced abortion increase substantially at later gestations. In addition, obtaining late abortions poses difficulties because they are more expensive, providers are fewer and harder to find, and many find late abortions more troubling than those performed early in gestation. This study investigates the social and demographic characteristics of women who have late abortions, problems related to access, and personal factors such as the ability to recognize signs of pregnancy.

Alternative High School Youth Risk Behavior Study, 1998

Investigators: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) is an epidemiologic surveillance system that was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor the prevalence of youth behaviors that most influence health. The 1998 national alternative high school Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is one component of the YRBSS. The YRBS focuses on health-risk behaviors established during youth that result in the most significant mortality, morbidity, disability, and social problems during both youth and adulthood. These include: behaviors that result in unintentional and intentional injuries; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that result in HIV infection, other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancies; dietary behaviors; and physical activity. Results from the Alternative High School YRBS are used by CDC to: (1) identify the prevalence and age of initiation of priority health-risk behaviors among students attending alternative high schools; and 2) identify the need for school health programs and policies for students attending alternative high schools. Four previous versions of the YRBS have been archived at Sociometrics. The 1992 survey (DAAPPP data set K9), the 1993 (data set M1), 1995 (data set N4), the 1997 (data set P5), and the 1999 (data set P7). Each of these data sets is cross-sectional.

American Housing Survey of the United States, 1999

Investigators: Bureau of the Census for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

The American Housing Survey (AHS) can be used to answer many questions about housing units and households in the United States. The AHS provides data on apartments, single-family homes, mobile homes, vacant homes, family composition, income, housing and neighborhood quality, housing costs, equipment, fuels, size of housing unit, and recent movers. National data are collected every other year from a fixed sample of about 50,000 homes, plus new construction. The survey started in 1973 and has had the same core sample since 1985. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the surveys in person and by telephone for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The resulting 1999 dataset includes 67,177 cases.

Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children and Youth, 1975-1994

Investigators: Arthur N. Schildroth, Thomas E. Allen, Sue A. Hotto, Kay H. Lam, and John K.C. Woo

The Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children and Youth, 1975-1994 was administered by the Center for Assessment and Demographic Studies (CADS) at Gallaudet University, Washington, DC. The project, a nationwide, longitudinal survey conducted every year since 1968, tracks the educational and demographic characteristics of deaf and hard-of-hearing students receiving special education services in schools throughout the United States. The purpose of the study has been to determine the size of the special education deaf and hard-of-hearing population of the United States and to describe its characteristics in ways that are useful to educators, program planners, legislators, and other researchers. The survey has played an important role in providing quality data for the discussion and debates leading to improvements in the field of education for these children. Educators have used Annual Survey data to provide national, state, and local level administrators, legislators, and the public at large with information about national needs and services, about changes taking place in the educational services in which these students are enrolled, and about various trends in their education. The Annual Survey data base includes approximately 65% of all deaf and hard-of-hearing children receiving special educational services in the United States.