Perceived risk and choice of childbirth service

This paper presents an analysis of the risk perceptions of a sample of pregnant women in a large metropolitan area on the West Coast regarding childbirth and its medical management, and how these perceptions correspond to their choice of childbirth service. The analysis first summarizes recent experimental work in cognitive and social psychology on information processing in decision making and examines its usefulness for the study of women's reproductive strategies in real life contexts. Following this, perceived risks of childbirth and its management are examined in light of the concept of 'bolstering', advanced in Janis and Mann's conflict theory of decision making. The findings, that women discount the risks and magnify the benefits of the chosen birth service, and exaggerate the risks and minimize the advantages of the rejected services, support the concept of bolstering and provide empirical evidence of its explanatory power in interpreting a decision making domain--women's childbirth care decision making--heretofore approached almost exclusively through description.