From Vital and Health Statistics of the Nat[onal Center for Health Statlstlcs Number 108 � May	 9, 1985 

,, 

PRoPERF/OFTHE’ “ 

PLHMCATIONS W?ANCH 

EDITORIAL
 LIBRARY


Wanted and Unwanted Childbearing: 

United States, 1973–82 

by William F. Pratt, Ph.D. and Marjorie C. Horn, M. A., Division of Vital Statistics 

* 

e 

A substantial decline in births that were unwanted at conception occurred between 1973 and 1982, according to results 

from the National Survey of Family Growth, conducted in both 

ears by the National Center for Health Statistics. In 1982, 

wer than 10 percent of all births to ever married women in 

the childbearing years had been unwanted at conception compared with 14 percent in 1973. Although black women in 1982 

continued to report larger proportions of unwanted births (22 

percent) than white women (8 percent), they experienced a 

greater percentage-point decline in unwanted births over the 

decade. Of the 4.3 million children in 1982 who had been born 

to never married women, 25 percent had been unwanted at 

conception, among the 75 percent that had been wanted, more 

than half had been wanted at a later time. Only 21 percent had 

been deliberately conceived by stopping, or not using, contraception for that purpose. 

The statistics on wontedness and the timing status of births 

presented in this report for 1982 are preliminary results ilom 

Cycle III of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). 

Data were collected from a multistage area probability sample 

of 7,969 women aged 15–44 years, regardless of marital status, 

in the noninstitutionalized population of the conterminous United 

States. Between Au~st 1982 and February 1983, interviews 

were conducted with 3,201 black women and 4,768 women of 

other races. Comparative data for 1973 are from Cycle I of the 

NSFG which also was based on a multistage area probability 

sample of women 15–44 years of age, but which excluded most 

never married women. 1 Because the estimates of statistics in 

this report are based on samples, they are subject to sampling 

riability. Sampling variability, the design of the survey, and 

eftitions of terms used in this report are discussed in the 

Technical notes. 

The Concept of “Wantedness” 

The terms “wanted” and “unwanted births” as used in this 

report are abbreviations for “wanted and unwanted pregnancies 

ending in live births”; whether a birth was wanted or unwanted 

refers to the mother’s attitude at the time of conception. It is 

important to emphasize that an “unwanted birth” is not necessarily an “unwanted child”; many children whose concep 

tions were not wanted nonetheless become cherished members 

of their families. 

The wontedness of each birth was determined from a series 

of questions that asked whether the woman had wanted the 

pregnancy at the time conception occurred. If contraception 

had not been used or had been stopped prior to the pregnancy, 

the woman was asked “Was the reason you (had stopped/ 

were not) using any method because you yourself wanted to 

become pregnant?” Women who had avoided or discontinued 

use of contraception for some other reason or had become 

pregnant while using contraception were asked “At the time 

you became pregnant. . . . did you, yourself, actually want to 

have a(nother) baby at some time?” Women who answered 

neither “yes” nor “no” also were asked”. . .. as you look back 

to just before that pregnancy began, would you say you probably 

wanted a(nother) baby at some time or probably not?” 

The pregnancy was classified as wanted at conception if the 

woman had stopped or was not using contraception because 

she wanted to become pregnant, or if she had wanted or probably had wanted a(nother) child at some time. The pregnancy 

was classiiled as unwanted if she had not wanted, or probably 

had not wanted a(nother) child. If the respondent did not know 

whether she had wanted a(nother) baby, or dld not care, the 

wontedness of the pregnancy was classtiled as undetermined. 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service 
2 

However, the percents of pregnancies ending in live births classified as “undetermined” were very small (0.3 and 0.2 percent 

in 1982 and 1973, respectively); percents of births that were 

wanted and unwanted at conception, therefore, are virtually 

complementary, increasing and decreasing by the same magnitude. 

Statistics on the proportions of births that were mistimed 

also are presented in this report. Women whose pregnancies 

were classified as wanted were asked, “Did you become pregnant sooner than you wanted, later than you wanted, or at about 

the right time?” Births resulting from pregnancies that occurred 

sooner than wanted by the mother were classified as mistimed. 

Births that occurred later than wanted are not included with 

the mistimed births here because their delay was not subject to 

choice or planning control. 

Trend in the “Wantedness” of Births: 

Ever Married Women 

As shown in table 1, between 1973 and 1982 the proportion of all births to ever married women that resulted from 

unwanted pregnancies declined significantly (from 14 to 10 

percent) and, of course, the proportion of births that were 

wanted rose correspondingly (from 86 to 90 percent). Over this 

period the data suggest that the proportion of births that occurred sooner than they were wanted (that is, mistimed births) 

increased slightly. 

In 1982, the proportion of all births that were unwanted at 

conception increased steadily with age among ever married 

women from 5 percent for 15– 19 year olds to 13 percent for 

women aged 40–44. A similar increase in unwanted births with 

increasing age was found in 1973. Not all of the increases between adjacent age groups were statistically significant, but the 

general pattern seems clear. 

The changes observed among all ever married women, between 1973 and 1982, largely were due to significant increases 

in the proportions of wanted births and declines in unwanted 

births among women in the ages 25 to 39 years. Among women 

20-24 and 40-44 years of age, similar but not statistically 

significant increases were observed in the proportions 

births. Minor changes observed over this period in the propo~ 

of wante 

tion of births that were wanted but mistimed were not statisT

tically significant for any of the age groups between 20 and 44 

years. However, in both years, mistimed births accounted for 

about two in every five births to women 20–24 years of age. 

Ever married teenage women in 1982 had the highest proportion of wanted births (95 percent) and the lowest proportion 

of unwanted births (5 percent) of any age group shown in table 

1; these proportions had not changed since 1973. However, the 

proportion of mistimed births to these teenaged women rose 

sharply from an already high 55 percent in 1973 to 75 percent 

in 1982. It is quite likely that this high and rising prevalence of 

mistimed births among ever married teenagers reflects the 

greater exposure to premarital intercourse at these ages and the 

large number of pregnancies precipitating an early marriage.2 

Couples continue to have far less success with contracep 

tion in planning when their children will be born than in planning 

how many they will have. In 1982, mistimed births (28 percent) 

were almost three times more frequent than unwanted births 

(10 percent) but only two times more frequent in 1973. The 

apparent small rise in mistimed births for all ever married 

women and their more significant increase among younger 

women may be due in large measure to the trend toward greater 

use of barrier methods of contraception, which are generally 

less effective than the pill or IUD.3,4 

The proportion of unwanted births was twice as high arnon 

formerly married women compared with currently marriedr 

women in both 1973 and 1982, but declined significantly in 

both groups over the decade (table 2). The proportion of births 

that were mistimed was practically unchanged among currently 

married women between 1973 and 1982, but it increased sharply 

among formerly married women. Among formerly married 

women in 1982, at least one-third of their births had been 

wanted but mistimed. 

The notably higher proportions of unwanted and mistimed 

births to formerly married women suggest the possibility that 

Table 1. Number of children ever born to ever married women 15-44 years of age and percent distribution by whether the birth waa wanted, 

wanted but mistimed, or unwantad at conception, according to age of the mothec United Statea, 1973 and 1982 

[Statistics are based on samples of the female population of the conterminous Un,ted States; see Technical notes for estimatea of sampling variabilny and definitions 

of terms; data for 1982 are preliminary] 

Wanted at conception 

Children Unwanted at 

ever born Total Mistimed conception 

Age 7982 1973 1982 1973 1982 1973 1982 1973 

Number in thousands Percent distribution 

Alleges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65,878 66,239 90.1 85,8 28,2 25.7 9.6 14,0 

15–19 years, , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 548 95.3 94,9 74,8 54.7 *4.7 *5.1 

20-24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,398 5,215 93.5 91,5 44.0 40.3 *6.5 8,? 

25-29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,304 11,102 93.1 89,5 28.0 28.3 6.3 10, 

30-34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,346 15,160 91.7 86,6 26.8 27.3 8.2 13,2 

35–39 years.,.......,,...,,,.. 16,983 16,307 89.3 83,0 26.4 23.7 10.4 16,8 

40-44 years.........,,...,.. . . . . . . 17,401 1,7,907 86.7 83,4 26.0 19.4 13.0 16.4 

1Percents of live b!rtha wanted and unwanted at conception may not add to 100 due to the exclusion of births for which the wantedneaa of the pregnancy was 

classified as “undetermined.” 
atkmed-3 

Table 2. Number of children ever born to ever married women 15-44 yeers of age and percent distribution by whether the birth was wanted, 

r 

r 

-wanted but mistimed, or unwented at conception, according to race and merital status of the mother: United States, 1973 and 1982 

tatistics are based on semples of the female population of the conterminous UnMed Stetes; see Techn!csl notes for estimates of sampling variability and definitions of 

terms; deta for 1982 are preliminary] 

Wanted at conception 

Children Unwanted at 

ever born Total Mistimed conception 

Race and marital status 1982 1973 1982 1973 1982 1973 1982 1973 

Number in thousands Percent distribution 

Allracesl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65,878 66,239 90.1 85.8 28.2 25.7 9.6 14.0 

Currently married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52,873 57,158 92.0 87.6 26.6 25.6 7,8 12.3 

Formerly married. . .,, ...,,.... . . . . . . 13,005 9,081 82.6 74.5 34.7 26.5 16.8 25.2 

White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,497 57,012 92.1 88.4 27.7 25.5 7.7 11.4 

Currently married..........,.. 46,546 51,179 93.0 89.2 26,0 25,4 6.8 10.6 

Formerly married....,......,,, 8,952 5,834 87.4 81.3 36.7 26.3 12.2 18.5 

Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,467 8,634 77,5 68.0 32.2 27.4 21.8 31.5 

Currently married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,769 5,448 82.6 71.3 33.1 27.6 17.2 28.3 

Formerly married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,69B 3,186 70.9 62.3 31.1 27.2 27.8 37.1 

‘Includes wh!te, black, end other races. 

unplanned childbearing is a factor in the instability of some been unwanted at conception compared with 11 percent remarriages. Formerly married women as a group appear to be ported by white women. By 1982, the proportions of unwanted 

slightly older and to have borne more children on average than births had declined 10 percentage points among black women 

currently married women, and both age and parity are associ- and 3 percentage points among white women, to 22 percent 

ated with increases in unwanted births. Nevertheless, at each and 8 percent, respectively. In both race groups, formerly marparity shown in table 3, the data su~est that the proportion of ried women had notably higher proportions of unwanted births 

births classified as unwanted by formerly married women was than currently married women in 1973 and 1982, despite the 

m~eater compared with currently married women. substantial reductions in unwanted births across the board. 

The differences observed in the proportions of wanted and The proportions of mistimed births increased for both black 

unwanted births between white and black women are even and white women between 1973 and 1982; in both years black 

greater than the differences by marital status (table 2). In 1973, women experienced a higher proportion mistimed compared 

ever married black women reported 32 percent of births had with white women, although the difference was significant only 

Table 3. Number of children ever born to ever married women 15-44 years of age and percent distribution by whether tha birth was wanted, 

wanted but mistimed, or unwanted at conception, according to race and parity of the mother United Statea, 1973 and 1982 

[Statistics ara baaed on samplea of the female population of the conterminous United States; see Technical notea for estimatea of sampling variability and definitiona 

of terms: data for 1982 are preliminary] 

Wanted at conception 

Children Unwanted at 

ever born Total Mistimed conception 

Race and parity 1982 1973 1982 1973 1982 ?973 1982 1973 

All races! Number in thousands Percent distribution 

All parities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65,B78 66,239 90.1 85.8 28,2 25.7 9.6 14.0 

1–2, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29,549 21,571 96.3 95.3 27.9 27.7 3.6 4.6 

3-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,734 26,924 88.1 85.7 28.5 25,0 11,7 14.1 

5 or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B,594 17,744 75.6 74.2 28,2 24.4 23.3 25.5 

White 

All parities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,497 57,012 92.1 88.4 27.7 25.5 7.7 11.4 

1–2, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26,031 19,379 97.2 96.5 27.6 26,7 2.7 3.4 

3-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23,486 24,094 89,6 87.2 28.0 24.7 10,3 12.6 

5 or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,980 13,539 79,6 79.0 27.3 24.9 19,5 20.8 

‘f- 81ack 

I All parities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,467 8,634 77.5 68,0 32.2 27.4 21.8 31.5 

1-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,655 1,955 87.4 83.0 32.1 37.4 12.4 16.2 

3-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,290 2,596 78.7 72.2 33.5 27.8 20.9 27.4 

5 or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,522 4,063 65.6 56.0 30.6 22,4 33.0 41.5 

1 Includes white, black, snd other races. 
4 achnncecbta 

at the .10 level in 1982. However, among black women, the 

increases in the proportion of mistimed births for currently married and formerly married women were not significant, while 

formerly married white women experienced a steep increase 

(10 percentage points) in mistimed births over the decade. 

The proportion of unwanted births increased with the 

number of births a woman had had (that is, with her parity), as 

may be seen in table 3. For instance, in 1982, among ever 

married white women with only 1–2 births, less than 1 in 30 

births had been unwanted at conception, while those with 5 or 

more births reported 1 in 5 had been unwanted. Similarly, 

among black women at parity 5 or more, 1 in 3 births had been 

unwanted at conception. 

Although there appeared to be a reduction in the proportion 

of unwanted births in each parity category for both white and 

black women between 1973 and 1982, few of these declines 

were statistically significan~ there is, however, some evidence 

of a reduction among black women with 3 or more births. 

None of these declines within the parity groups was as great as 

the overall decline for the respective race groups. For instance, 

between 1973 and 1982, the overall proportion of unwanted 

births to white women declined by nearly 4 percentage points, 

but the largest decline among the parity groups was about 2 

percentage points among those with 3–4 births; similarly for 

black women, an overall decline of close to 10 percentage points 

exceeded the largest parity group decline of nearly 9 percentage 

points among those with 5 or more births. 

The overall decline in the proportion of unwanted births 

between 1973 and 1982 was greater than the declines in the 

separate parity groups because, not only were women interviewed in 1982 more successful in avoiding unwanted births, 

but the number of births they wanted also was smaller. Over 

this decade, women were postponing marriage for longer periods of time, and delaying childbearing within mamiage.5-7 As 

a result, we observe that in 1982 a larger proportion of births 

occurred to women who were parity 1–2 (45 percent) and a 

smaller proportion to women who were parity 5 or more (13 

percent), compared with 33 and 27 percent, respectively, in 

1973. Another way to see the effect of the declining number of 

wanted births is to note that if the declining proportions of unwanted births within the parity groups were the only change, 

then the overall proportion of unwanted births in 1982 would 

have been 12 rather than 10 percent. It is important not to 

Co&se the increase in the proportion of births that were wanted 

at conception with wanting a larger number of children. 

“Wontedness” of Births: 

Never Married Women 

Never married women were interviewed in the NSFG for 

the first time in 1982 (table 4). Although it is no surprise that 

births to never married women were wanted at conception (75 

percent) less frequently than those born to ever married women 

(90 percent), the proportion of wanted births to never married 

women nonetheless was high. It is important to recall that a 

wanted birth is one that, at the time of conception, was wanted 

by the mother “at some time” but not necessarily at that particular time. In fact, more than half the wanted births to never 

married women (42 percent of the total births) were mistimed, 

Table 4. Number of children ever born to never married women 

15-44 years of age and percent distribution by whether the birth 

was wanted, wanted but mistimed, or unwanted at conception, 

according to age and race of the mothen United States, 1982 

[Preliminary statistics based on samples of tha female population of the o 

contermi nous United States; sae Technical notes for astimates of sampling 

variability and definitions of terms] 

Wanted 

Children at conception Unwanted 

ever at 

Age and race born Total Mistimed conception 

Number in 

All races! thousands Parcent distribution 

15–44 years . . . . . . . 4,341 75.1 42.3 24.8 

15-19 years . . . . . . . 474 75.6 54.9 24.4 

20-24 years. . 1,273 80.5 48.1 19.5 

25–44 years. . . . . . 2,593 72.3 37.1 27.6 

White 

15–44 years .,..... 1,670 81.6 42.4 18.4 

15-19 years .,,.... 220 85.2 61,6 *1 4.8 

20–24 years, . 473 89.9 53.5 “10.1 

25–44 years, . 977 76.7 32.7 23.3 

Black 

15-44 yeara . . . . . . . 2,569 70.1 41.4 29.8 

15–19 years . . . . . . . 245 68.2 49.2 31.8 

20-24 years. . . . . . 727 72.5 42.9 27.5 

25-44 years. . . 1,597 69.3 39.4 30.5 

Ilncludas white, black, and other races. 

contrasted with less than one-third (28 percent of the total births o among ever married women. Moreover, data not shown in table 

4 reveal that, among the group of wanted births that were not 

mistimed, only about tw~thirds of mothers had not used, or 

had stopped using, contraception because they wanted to become pregnant then. In sum, although 75 percent of births to 

never married women were wanted “at some time,” the proportion that had been deliberately conceived or planned was on 

the order of21 percent. 

Differences in wontedness status by race and age found 

among ever married women are similar to those for never married women. In 1982, the proportion of births classified as unwanted to all never married black women was higher than that 

of never married white women aged 15–44 (30 compared with 

18 percent). Within each age group, the proportions unwanted 

also tended to be higher for black women than white women, 

although the differences at age(s) 25–44 were not statistically 

signflcant. 

The proportions of births that were wanted but mistimed 

are nearly the same for black never married women (41 percent) 

as for white never married women (42 percent). At ages 

15–24, it appears that white women classified a larger percent 

of all births as mistimed compared with black women, but the 

difference is not statistically significant. For black women, the 

proportions of mistimed births among the never married were 

substantially higher than among either their currently or for 

merly married counterparts (table 2). For white women a similaro 

pattern was found, but the difference in the proportions mistimed between never and formerly married women was not 

significant. 
amceckb5 

References 

@ 

ational Center for Health Statistics, D. French National Survey of 

amily Growth, Cycle k Sample design, estimation procedures, and 

variance estimation. Vital and Health Statistics. Series 2, No. 76. 

DHEW Pub. No. (PHS) 78-1350. Public Health Service. Washington. 

U.S. Government Printing Oflice, Jan. 1978. 

‘W. F. Pram W. D. Mosher, C. A. Bachrach, and M. C. Horn Understanding U.S. Fertility. Population Bulletin. Vol. 39, No. 5. Washington. Population Reference Bureau, Dec. 1984. 

3C. A. Bachrach Contraceptive Practice, 1982. Paper presented at 

the annual meetings of the Population Association of America. Minneapolis, May 1984. 

4National Center for Health Statistics, C. A. Bachrach and W. D. 

Mosher Use of contraception in the United States, 1982. Advance 

Data From Vital and Health Statistics. No. 103. DHHS Pub. No. 

(PHS) 85-1250. Public Health Service. Hyattsville, Md., Dec. 1984. 

5u.s- Bureau of the Censux Marital status and living SIT~gementS, 

March 1982. Current Population Reports. Series P-20, No. 380. 

Washington. U.S. Govermnent Printing Office, 1983. 

6Nation~ Center for Hedti Statistics, S. J. Ventura Trends in first 

births to older mothers, 1970-79. Monthly Vital Statistics Report. 

Vol. 31, No. 2 Supp. 2. DHHS Pub. No. (PHS) 82-1120. Public 

Health Service. Hyattsville, Md., May 1982. 

7National Center for Health Statistics: Advance report of final natality 

statistics, 1982. Monthly Vital Statishm Repoti. Vol. 33, No. 6. Supp. 

DHHS Pub. No. (PHS) 84–1 120. Public Health Service. Hyattsville, 

Md., Sept. 1984. 

Symbols 

..- Data not available 

. . . Categov not applicable 

Quantity zero 

0.0	 Quantity more than zero but less than 

0.05 

z	 Quantity more than zero but less than 

500 where numbers are rounded to 

thousands 

——————. * Figure does not meet standards of 

reliability or precision (30 percent —. or greater relative standard error) 

# Figure suppressed to comply with 

confidentiality requirements 
----

6 achmncedata 

Technical Notes 

Survey design Table 1. Parameters used to compute estimated standard errors 

and relativa standard errors of numbers and percents of � 

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) is con- pregnancies by race, marital status, and age of women: National — 

Survey of Family Growth 

ducted periodically by the National Center for Health Statistics


to collect data on fertility, family planning, and related aspects Parameter


of maternal and child health. Field work for Cycle I was con­


ducted under contract in 1973 by the National Opinion Re- Race, marital status, and age A B


search Center. Field work for Cycle III was conducted by


Westat, Inc., in 1982. 1982


In all cycles, personal interviews were conducted with a All pregnancies: 

Allraces and white . . . . . . . . . . –0.000001 3533 25,567.4424 multistage area probability sample of women 15–44 years of Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0001091980 7,143.2252 

age in the noninstitutionalized population of the conterminous Pregnancies to ever married 

United States. In Cycle I, ever married women and never mar- women: 

Allraces and white . . . . . . . . . . 0.0031203910 43,592.7254 ried women with offspring living in the household were eligible Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . –0.0001 123101 15,678.7103 

for the survey. In Cycle III, all women aged 15–44 were eligible Pregnancies to never married 

regardless of marital status or the presence of offspring. Women women and to teenagers aged 

1 5–19 yesrs: living in group quarters (such as college dormitories) were ex- All races: 

cluded from the samples in Cycle I, but included in Cycle III. Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0138872800 8,660.9620 

Interviews were conducted with 9,797 women in Cycle I and Teenagers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0059512240 7,802.2084 

White: 7,969 in Cycle III. The sample design of Cycle I is described Never married.........,.. 0.0709659500 13,265.3231 

in more detail in another report of the National Center for Teenagers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0102484400 9,664.9170 

Health Statistics.l Black: 

Field work for Cycle III was conducted between August Never married; teenagers. . 0.0045465070 3,430.7602 

1982 and February 1983. Black women and women aged 1973 

15– 19 were oversampled. Interviews were conducted by trained Allraces and white . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0000176130 4,493.7916 

female interviewers and lasted an average of 1 hour. The in- Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0000402190 1,600.439 

terview focused on a woman’s pregnancy history use of con­


traceptives in each pregnancy interval; ability to bear childrew


future childbearing expectations; use of family planning and


infertility services; marital history; labor force participation, The chances are about 68 in 100 that a sample estimate


and a wide range of social, economic, and demographic will differ by no more than one standard error, and about 95 in


characteristics. 100 that it will differ by no more than two standard errors, from


a corresponding statistic based on a complete count of the pop 

Reliability of estimates ulation represented by the NSFG. Differences among percents 

discussed in this report were tested for statistical significance 

Because the statistics presented in this report are based on at the 95-percent confidence level, using a two-tailed t-test with 

a sample, they may differ from the statistics that would result if 39 degrees of freedom. This means that if there were no difall 54 million women represented by the NSFG had been in- ference among the corresponding percents in the population as 

terviewed. The standard error of an estimate (SE) is a measure a whole, then a difference as large as the one observed in the 

of such differences. The standard error of an estimated number sample would occur in fewer than 5 percent of repeated samples 

or percent presented in this report may be calculated by using of the same size and design as the NSFG. When the observed 

the a~momiate values of A and B horn table I in the eauations _lu?l?-__--- L-L . . . . . . . . . * - . . . . . . . 

8 ackincedata 

Recent 1ssues of Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics , 

No. 107. Marriage and First Intercourse, Marriage Dissolution, and No. 104. Fecundity and Infertility in the United States, 1965-82 (ILe 

Remarriage: United States, 1982 (Issued Apr. 12, 1985) sued Feb. 11, 1985) 

No. 106. Use of Topical Antimicrobial Drugs in Office-Based Prac- No. 103. Use of Services for Family Plaming and Infertility United 

tice: United States, 1980–81 (Issued Apr. 10, 1985) States, 1982 (Issued Dec. 20, 1984) 

No. 105. Diagnosis-Related Groups Using Data From the National 

Hospital Discharge Survey United States, 1982 (Issued Jan. 18, 1985) 
----

akuwdaa7 

. Table II. Approximate standard arrors for estimated percants (expressed in parentage points) of pregnancies to women of all racas: . . \ National Survay of Family Growth, Cycle III r Estimated percent 

2 or 5 or 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 or 

Base of percent 98 95 90 BO 70 60 50 

100,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 11.0 15.2 20,2 23.2 24.8 25.3 

500,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 4.9 6.8 9.0 10.4 11.1 11.3 

1,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 3.5 4.8 6.4 7,3 7.8 8.0 

5,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0 1.6 2,1 2.9 3.3 3.5 3.6 

10,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.7 1.1 1.5 2.0 2.3 2.5 2.5 

30,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.3 1.4 1,5 

50,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.0 1.1 1,1 

Statistics in this report also maybe subject to nonsampling 

error, that is, errors or omissions in responding to the interview, recording answers, and processing data. The data have 

been adjusted for nonsampling error due to nonresponse by 

means of adjustments to the sample weights assigned to each 

case. Other types of nonsampling error were minimized by a 

series of stringent quality control measures similar to those 

used in Cycle l.l 

Definitions of terms 

. Wontedness—Pregnancies were classified as “wanted” or 

unwanted” and wanted pregnancies that occurred earlier than 

they were desired were subclassified as “mistimed.” A pregnancy was classified as wanted at conception if the woman had 

stopped, or had not used, contraception because she wanted a 

pregnancy, or if she had become pregnant while using contraception but nonetheless had wanted, or probably wanted, 

a(nother) baby at some time. Similarly, a pregnancy was classified as unwanted at conception if the woman had stopped, or 

had not used, contraception for reasons other than seeking pregnancy or had become pregnant while using contraception and 

had not wanted, or probably had not wanted, a(nother) baby at 

some time. In this report, a wanted pregnancy was considered 

mistimed if the woman had wanted the pregnancy to occur at a 

later date. Pregnancies that occurred sometime later than had 

been desired, also might be considered mistimed for some purposes, but these did not represent failures in family planning that is subject to contraceptive control, and therefore 

are classified with other births that were wanted at conception. 

NOTE: A list of references follows the text, 

Pregnancies that ended in live births, on which this report is 

focused, were classified as wanted or unwanted births. However, 

pregnancies that ended in multiple births are counted only once 

because only the pregnancy is subject to contraceptive control. 

Parity—Parity refers to the number of live births the respondent had had. 

Age—Age is classified by the age of the respondent at her 

last birthday before the date of interview. 

Race—Race refers to the race of the woman interviewed 

and is reported as black, white, or other. In Cycle III, race was 

classified according to the woman’s report of the race that best 

described her. In Cycle I, race was classified by the observation of the interviewer. Cycle III data indicated that results 

using either method of classification were found to be very 

similar. 

Marital status—Persons were classified by marital status 

as married, widowed, divorced, separated, or never married. In 

Cycle I, informally married women—women who volunteered 

that they were sharing living quarters with their sexual partner— 

were classified as currently married. These women constituted 

about 2 percent of currently married respondents in Cycle I. In 

Cycle III, such women were classified according to their legal 

marital status. Thus, statistics on currently married women for 

1982 shown in this report are not strictly comparable to those 

for 1973. Reclassifying women in the 1973 survey according 

to the 1982 definition of marital status, however, makes little 

difference in the distributions of currently married women by 

other characteristics for that year. 

In all cycles, women who were married but separated from 

their spouse were classified as separated if the reason for the 

separation was marital discord, otherwise they were classified 

as currently married. 

f--’ 

1 
8


Recent issues of Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics 

No. 107. Marriage and First Intercourse, Marriage Dissolution, and No. 104. Fecundity and Infertility in the United States, 1965–82 (1s ~ Remarriage: United States, 1982 (Issued Apr. 12, 1985) sued Feb. 11, 1985) 

No. 106. Use of Topical Antimicrobial Drugs in Otllce-Based Prac- No. 103. Use of Services for Family Planning and Infertility: United 

tice: United States, 1980–81 (Issued Apr. 10, 1985) States, 1982 (Issued Dec. 20, 1984) 

No. 105. Diagnosis-Related Groups Using Data From the National 

Hospital Discharge Survey United States, 1982 (Issued Jan. 18, 1985) 

Suggested Citation 

National Center for Health Statistics, W. F. Pratt 

and M. C. Horn: Wanted and Unwanted Childbearing, United States, 1973-82. Advance Data Copyright Information 

From Vital and Health Statistics. No. 108.DH H S 

Pub. No, (PHS) 85–1 250. Public Health Service. This report may be reprinted without further 

Hyattsville, Md., May 1985. permission. / 

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HUMAN SERVICES 

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