PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH TEENAGE PREGNANCY - A REVIEW OF SOME LATIN-AMERICAN STUDIES

Twenty one Latin American articles on teenage pregnancy written in Spanish were reviewed. The purpose was to identify the better researched psychosocial factors, to find out similarities and differences between results, to evaluate methodology used and to determine how often authors cited other Spanish-speaking researchers. Content analysis revealed that most of the pregnant adolescents, serving as subjects in the studies reviewed, were contacted in health-care centers. Most such studies did not specify the socioeoonomic status of the subjects. Except in one study, subjects did not sign consent letters. Most studies were of the retrospective-descriptive type as well as prospective comparative surveys. Adolescent pregnancy, birth control and sexual education were the most studied issues. Relations between the couples' family of origin and the couple were less studied and the one between the family's in-laws and friends with the couples, was the least studied. Increasing information exchange among Latin American researchers was observed.