Inaccuracy in women's reports of their abortion histories affects many areas of interest to reproductive health professionals and researchers. The identification of characteristics that affect the accuracy of reporting is essential for the improvement of data collection methods. A comparison of the medical records of 104 American women aged 27-30 in 1990-1991 with their self-reported abortion histories revealed that 19% of these women failed to report one or more abortions. Results of logistic regression analysis indicate that nonwhite women were 3.3 times as likely as whites to underreport. With each additional year that had elapsed since the first recorded abortion, women became somewhat more likely to underreport (odds ratio of 1.3), while each additional year of a woman's education slightly decreased the likelihood of underreporting (odds ratio of 0.7).
Family Planning Perspectives, issued bimonthly since 1969, contains the results of research conducted in the United States and other developed countries. It serves researchers, policy makers and family planning program providers. Family planning is defined broadly to include contraceptive practice; fertility levels, trends and determinants; adolescent pregnancy; abortion; public policies and legal issues affecting childbearing; program operation, development and evaluation; information, education and communication activities; sexually transmitted diseases; and reproductive, maternal and child health. The journal also contains staff-written material summarizing research from other journals, discussing policy issues and providing coverage of conferences.
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Family Planning Perspectives
© 1996 Guttmacher Institute