Adolescent girls' experiences of unwanted intercourse and unintentional pregnancy: A retrospective study.

In this study, unwanted intercourse refers to intercourse that took place with or without consent and in which a girl was neither physically harmed nor threatened with physical harm but which she engaged in due to social or interpersonal pressure, or substance use. Unwanted sexual experiences are linked to lower contraception use and higher rates of pregnancy as well as negative physical, psychological, and emotional consequences. Evidence suggests that experiencing unwanted sex in adolescence leads to a continuation of this pattern in adulthood. In this sample, 16% of adult women had experienced unwanted intercourse often or always during their adolescence. Statistical and thematic analyses identify a number of relational and contextual factors that affect sexual compliance, providing the basis for further studies concerning relationships between gender ideologies and adolescent girls' sexual development. Frequency of unwanted intercourse is associated with experiences of childhood sexual abuse, low socioeconomic status, Aboriginal ethnicity, unintentional pregnancy, and with knowing, at the time, that the intercourse was unwanted. --P. ii.