Relação entre temperamento, nascimento de filhos na adolescência e aborto

Abstract

Adolescent pregnancy and abortion are frequent causes of health problems and death. We studied women 18 to 60 years old selected from the Brazilian Internet Study on Temperament and Psychopathology, a web-based survey in which participants provided details on abortion and pregnancy history, and completed the Affective and Emotional Temperament Composite (AFECT) Scale. A total of 53833 women comprised the sample, from which 11.4% of the participants had induced at least one abortion and 3.9% have had a child before the age of 18. Depressive, Cyclothymic, Irritable, Hyperthymic and Euphoric types were associated with a 25%-64% higher chance of having a child before completing 18 years old when compared to Euthymics. Except for the avoidant type, all affective types were associated with the chance to have provoked an abortion, particularly Euphoric (OR=1.83), Volatile (OR = 1.65) and Cyclothymic (OR=1.54). Volition was the only dimensional trait associated with the age of the first child. In contrast, a history of abortion was associated with higher scores for Anger and Desire and lower scores for Caution, Coping and Control. Women who have abortions had prominent externalizing traits, suggesting a reduced “moral constraint”, whereas adolescent pregnancy was weakly associated with temperament traits.