What question did this study set out to answer?

To assess the extent of abortion underreporting and identify factors influencing reporting accuracy across major national surveys of U.S. women between 1976 and 1988.

February 1, 1992DemographyOpen Access

Underreporting of abortion in surveys of U.S. women: 1976 to 1988

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Authors

EJElise F. JonesUniversity of South Wales JFJacqueline Darroch ForrestGuttmacher Institute

Discussion

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Implication

Comparative analysis reveals widespread underreporting of abortion in national surveys of women, indicating that conventional survey methods substantially mismeasure reproductive history.

Key Points

To assess the extent of abortion underreporting and identify factors influencing reporting accuracy across major national surveys of U.S. women between 1976 and 1988.
Compared survey-reported abortions across cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth (1976, 1982, 1988), the National Surveys of Young Women (1976, 1979), and the National Longitudinal Surveys of Work Experience of Youth against external counts of recorded abortions.
Evaluated variations in reporting rates by respondent demographic characteristics, historical trends, length of recall period, and questionnaire interview format.
Abortion reporting was found to be substantially deficient across all evaluated surveys, with reporting levels displaying wide variation depending on survey design.
White women reported past abortions more consistently than nonwhite women, and the implementation of confidential questioning procedures improved reporting completeness.

Cite This Study

Jones et al. (1992) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a0e2a9f370e1ecbafd0929b https://doi.org/10.2307/2061366

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Implication

Comparative analysis reveals widespread underreporting of abortion in national surveys of women, indicating that conventional survey methods substantially mismeasure reproductive history.

Underreporting of abortion in surveys of U.S. women: 1976 to 1988

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Underreporting of abortion in surveys of U.S. women: 1976 to 1988

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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