Young Women's Use of Reproductive Health Services Declines

A new study shows a decline in reproductive health care use among US females ages 15-24 in recent years.

The researchers, led by Kelli Stidham Hall of Princeton University’s Office of Population Research, examined data on 4,421 young female participants in the National Survey of Family Growth. The team found an 8 percent drop in the women’s reports of Pap tests, screenings for STDs and pregnancy, and other OB-GYN services from 2002 to 2006-08. By comparison, reproductive health care use among young women increased between 1995 and 2002, the team noted.

While declines were seen among all demographic and socioeconomic groups, economically disadvantaged women were the least likely to have received care. Factors that may have contributed to the downturn in use include: a reduction in public-sector clinics serving low-income women; increasing unemployment and decreasing rates of health insurance coverage; changes to screening guidelines that call for fewer Pap tests; and legislation that has increased mandatory parental participation in adolescent sexual and reproductive health care.

“Our findings may be a reflection of changing social, economic, and political contexts in which reproductive services were needed and provided over the last decade,” wrote the team.

“Determinants of and Disparities in Reproductive Health Service Use Among Adolescent and Young Adult Women in the United States, 2002-2008,” was published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Public Health (2011;doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300380).

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