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Abortion Underreporting in Add Health: Findings and Implications

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  • Katherine I. Tierney

    (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Abstract

Well-documented, large-scale abortion underreporting on U.S. surveys raises questions about the use of abortion self-reports for statistical inference. This paper is the first to evaluate the completeness of the abortion data in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Comparisons of Add Health’s estimated abortion rates to external sources show that the Add Health data capture 35% of expected abortions. Thus, Add Health performed no better than other surveys in collecting abortion data. Further, no differences in underreporting by race/ethnicity or age at abortion were found. We suggest that the current U.S. social environment generates high levels of abortion stigma, which yields abortion underreporting. We conclude that due to underreporting, survey self-reports of abortion need to be evaluated, contextualized, and used with caution.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine I. Tierney, 2019. "Abortion Underreporting in Add Health: Findings and Implications," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(3), pages 417-428, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:38:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11113-019-09511-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-019-09511-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paul D. Allison, 2000. "Multiple Imputation for Missing Data," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 28(3), pages 301-309, February.
    2. Elise Jones & Jacqueline Forrest, 1992. "Underreporting of abortion in surveys of U.S. women: 1976 to 1988," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 29(1), pages 113-126, February.
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    4. Vidhura Tennekoon, 2017. "Counting unreported abortions: A binomial-thinned zero-inflated Poisson model," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(2), pages 41-72.
    5. Jagannathan, R., 2001. "Relying on surveys to understand abortion behavior: Some cautionary evidence," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(11), pages 1825-1831.
    6. Rasch, V. & Muhammad, H. & Urassa, E. & Bergström, S., 2000. "Self-reports of induced abortion: An empathetic setting can improve the quality of data," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 90(7), pages 1141-1144.
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    Cited by:

    1. Johansen, Eva Rye, 2021. "Relative age for grade and adolescent risky health behavior," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Forsstrom, Matthew P., 2021. "Abortion Costs and Single Parenthood: A Life-Cycle Model of Fertility and Partnership Behavior," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Laura Lindberg & Kathryn Kost & Isaac Maddow-Zimet & Sheila Desai & Mia Zolna, 2020. "Abortion Reporting in the United States: An Assessment of Three National Fertility Surveys," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(3), pages 899-925, June.
    4. Isaac Maddow-Zimet & Laura D. Lindberg & Kate Castle, 2021. "State-Level Variation in Abortion Stigma and Women and Men’s Abortion Underreporting in the USA," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(6), pages 1149-1161, December.
    5. Bethany G. Everett & Jessica N. Sanders & Jenny A. Higgins, 2023. "Abortion Policy Context in Adolescence and Men’s Future Educational Achievement," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(3), pages 1-20, June.

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