Sexual orientation and risk of pregnancy among New York City high-school students

L.L. Lindley and K.M. Walsemann

American Journal of Public Health, 2015, vol. 105, issue 7, 1379-1386

Abstract: Objectives. We examined associations between sexual orientation and pregnancy risk among sexually experienced New York City high-school students. Methods. We analyzed data from 2005, 2007, and 2009 New York City Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. We excluded students who had never engaged in sexual intercourse, only had same-gender sexual partners, or had missing data on variables of interest, resulting in a final sample of 4892 female and 4811 male students. We employed multivariable logistic regression to examine pregnancy risk by sexual orientation, measured as self-reported sexual identity and gender of sexual partners, with adjustment for demographics and sexual behaviors. We stratified analyses by gender. Results. Overall, 14.3% of female and 10.8% of male students had experienced a pregnancy. Students who identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual or reported both male and female sexual partners had higher odds of pregnancy than heterosexual students or students who only had opposite-gender sexual partners. Sexual behaviors accounted for higher odds of pregnancy among female, but only partially accounted for higher odds of pregnancy involvement among male, sexual-minority students. Conclusions. Sexual orientation should be considered in future adolescent pregnancy-prevention efforts, including the design of pregnancyprevention interventions.

Keywords: adolescent; adolescent pregnancy; bisexuality; child; epidemiology; female; human; lesbianism; male; male homosexuality; pregnancy; psychology; risk factor; sex difference; sexual behavior; statistics and numerical data; student; United States, Adolescent; Bisexuality; Child; Female; Homosexuality, Female; Homosexuality, Male; Humans; Male; New York City; Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Adolescence; Risk Factors; Sex Factors; Sexual Behavior; Students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302553

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302553_0

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302553

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().