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Chapter 4 Results
Descriptives From the Sample
The following section will report descriptive and comparative statistics regarding the demographics of the sample analyzed in this study. Table 1 presents mean and
standard deviation for the continuous variables age, years in the U.S. and number of pregnancies.
Table 1 Descriptives from Sample
Measure Women who didn’t have abortion Women who did have an abortion ttest
MSD MSD
p Age
36.46 8.61 38.77 8.08
.005 Years in U.S. 10.49 9.06
13.95 12.95 .003
of pregnancies 2.00 1.63 3.97 2.06
.001 ________________________________________________________________________
Summary for Table 1. Women who had a history of abortion were slightly older
[t546 = 2.82, p = .005], had more years living in the U.S. [t196.96 = 2.97, p = .003],
and almost double the average amount of pregnancies [t212.66 = 10.36, p .001].
Table 2 presents the country of origin for women with and without a history or abortion.
Table 2 Country of Origin
Measure Women who did not have an abortion
Women who did have an abortion
N N
Cuba 27 6.7
43 29.7 Dominican Rep.
23 5.7 10 6.9
Puerto Rico 23 5.7
5 3.4 Honduras
24 6.0 3 2.1
Nicaragua 26 6.5
3 2.1 Colombia
146 36.2 40 27.6
Peru 35 8.7
10 6.9 U.S.
30 7.4 11 7.6
Summary for Table 2. An examination of the country of origin revealed that for
women who did not have an abortion, the greater percentage originated from Colombia. For women who had a history of abortion, the greatest percentage originated from Cuba
followed closely by women originating from Colombia.
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Table 3 reports the religious affiliation for the sample specifically between: Roman Catholic, Christian non-Catholic, non-Christian, and No religious affiliation.
Table 3 Religion
Measure Women who did not have an abortion
Women who did have an abortion
N N
Roman Catholic 249 61.8
83 57.2 Christian non-catholic
126 31.3 42 29.0
Non-Christian 4 1.0
5 3.4 None
24 6.0 15 10.3
Χ
2
The χ 3= 7.35, p=.062.
2
Summary for Table 3. A Chi square test examining differences in the
proportions across the two groups approached significance, χ
test approaches significance.
2
Research Question 1: Characteristics of Latinas with a History of Abortion
3 = 7.35, p= .062. This
indicates that type of religion may be important but not significant factor in this study.
This section of the results answers Research Question 1: What are the general characteristics of Latina women having abortions according to level of acculturation,
level of religiosity, degree of familism, and number of pregnancies. This section will focus on Latinas with a history of abortion and examines level of acculturation, familism,
religiosity and number of pregnancies.
Table 4 describes the mean and standard deviation for level of familism and number of pregnancies.
Table 4 Descriptives
Mean and standard deviation for level of familism and number of pregnancies + abortion
- abortion Total
Measure M SD
MSD MSD
Familism Support from Family 3.94 0.81
4.03 0.71 4.01 0.74
Family as Referents 2.96 0.76 2.93 0.74
2.94 0.74 Number of pregnancies
3.97 2.06 2.01 1.64
2.53 1.96
Summary for Table 4. In general, the women with a history of abortion
demonstrated a high degree of familism particularly in the support from family scale and they had an average of approximately four pregnancies.
Table 5 reports the frequency and percent for high versus low acculturation and level of religiosity, or how often they reported attending religious services.
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Table 5 Frequency of acculturation and religiosity categories for women with a history of
abortion + abortion
- abortion Total
Measure N
N N
Acculturation Low acculturation
89 61.4 261 64.8
350 63.9 High acculturation
56 38.6 142 35.2
198 36.1 Religiosity
More than once a week 12 8.3
52 12.9 64 11.7
Weekly 32 22.1
131 32.5 163 29.7
Monthly 17 11.7
61 15.1 78 14.2
Less than once a month 9 6.2
30 7.4 39 7.1
Only on special days 56 38.6
93 23.1 149 27.2
Not at all 19 13.1
36 8.9 55 10.0
Summary for Table 5. The greatest number of women who had a history of
abortion reported attending religious services only on special days, followed by those who attended services weekly. The greater proportion of women with a history of
abortion were less acculturated than those women without a history of abortion.
Table 6 reports the frequency and percentage of the number of pregnancies for women with a history of abortion.
Table 6 Frequency for number of pregnancies
+ abortion - abortion
Total Number of pregnancies
N N
N 1
106.9 87 21.6
97 17.7 2
2617.9 103 25.6
129 23.5 3
3423.4 72 17.9
106 19.3 4
2617.9 32 7.9
58 10.6 5
2114.5 20 5.0
41 7.5 6
139.0 3 0.7
16 2.9 7 or more
1510.4 7 1.7
22 4.0
Summary for Table 6. Women who had abortions in the sample reported from 1
to 7+ pregnancies. The mode was 3 pregnancies which occurred in 23.7of the sample. More women n=75 reported more than 3 pregnancies, while only 36 women reported
less than 3 pregnancies.
Research Question 2: Predicting Differences Between Latinas with and without a History of Abortion.
The analysis reported in this section examines research question 2: Do Latina women who have had an abortion differ from those women who have not, based on levels
of acculturation, religiosity, degree of familism, and number of pregnancies? A logistic regression was used to determine whether each of the following predictors: level of
acculturation, degree of familism, religiosity, and number of pregnancies differentiated
those women with and without a history of abortion.
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In the analysis, the dummy coded acculturation variable, the dummy coded religiosity variables specifying level of attendance, the two familism scales and number
of pregnancies were included in a logistic regression equation. The overall model was statistically significant -
22LL = 497.94, χ
2
Table 7 reports the odds ratios and p values for each variable. 9 = 135.34, p .001.
Table 7 Odds Ratio
Variable Odds Ratio
P- value
Acculturation 1.25
.348 Religiosity
More than one time per week 0.27 .007
Weekly 0.34
.008 Monthly
0.38 .033
Less than one time per week 0.41
.117 On special days
1.02 .958
Familism Family support
1.07 .677
Family as referents 0.91
.575 Number of pregnancies
1.87 .000
p .05
Summary for Table 7: Level of acculturation, attending religious events less
than one time per month, attending religious events on special days only, support from
family and family as referents were not associated with having had an abortion. Women who reported attending religious services more than one time per week were 75 less
likely to have had an abortion than those who did not attend religious services. Women who attended religious events weekly were 66 less likely to have had an abortion, and
women who attended religious services monthly were 62 less likely to have had an abortion than those women who did not attend religious services. Women with higher
number of pregnancies were more likely to have had an abortion. In this study, a Latina attending religious services at least once a month was less likely to have had an abortion.
The more times a Latina was pregnant, the more likely she was to have had an abortion, after controlling for religiosity.
Hypothesis 1: Latinas who have higher levels of religiosity will be less likely to
have had an abortion. The results supported hypothesis 1. Women who reported attending church more frequently higher level of religiosity were less likely to have a
history of abortion.
Hypothesis 2: Latinas who have higher levels of acculturation will be more
likely to have a history of abortion. The results did not support this hypothesis.
Hypothesis 3: Latinas who have higher familism scores will be less likely to
have history of abortion. This hypothesis was not supported by the findings.
Hypothesis 4: Latinas who have greater number of pregnancies will be more
likely to have a history of abortion. In this sample, women who had a history of abortion reported a history of approximately four pregnancies, while women without a history of
abortion reported half this number.
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Chapter 5 Discussion
Kategori