Attitudes of Adolescent Males toward Adolescent Pregnancy and Fatherhood

The role of the male in adolescent pregnancy decision making is often ignored. This paper explores the etiology of teenage pregnancy and the views of teenage males towards adolescent fatherhood. Male willingness to participate in pregnancy decision making is evaluated. It is the hypothesized that a males willingness to cooperate may depend on his acceptance of his partners decision. Adolescent males in the Kitchener Waterloo area of Ontario Canda were surveyed by questionnaire. Data from 74 respondents was used and derived from a group of 222 adolescent males who accompanied their partners to a birth control clinic 15 from a hospital abortion clinic 12 from a social services agency 22 from a community college; the remainder were partners of women from a local maternity home. Respondents were unanimous in their desire to be told of a pregnancy while less than 8% felt inclined to break off the relationship on this basis. They were almost unanimous in their willingness to begin decision making and slightly less than unanimous in their willingness to discuss pregnancy termination. In casual dating relationships 64% preferred the continuation of pregnancy in contrast to 86% for those involved in serious dating relationships. The majority of those surveyed were willing to cooperate with a physician even if they disagreed with the decision. The small and nonrandom sample prevents the use of this study as an accurate barometer of attitudes in the general adolescent male population. While acceptance of pregnancy continuation was high the willingness to give emotional and financial support was significant only for those males not involved in pregnancy. Thus even while males support the resolution to keep and care for a baby they do not intent to be involved in that care. Those employed a larger number of hours were more willing to participate in the process in both casual and serious relationships possibly due to their greater financial ability to support a decision. Most males reported more positive feelings about participation when they agreed with the resolution.