DOING TIME AND MAKING CHOICES: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF PREGNANCY RESOLUTION DECISIONS IN JUVENILE DETENTION

The research project discussed in this report addresses the issue of how adolescents in juvenile detention make health related decisions. The purpose of the project was to conduct an applied anthropological study describing the relationship of the multiple variables impacting on adolescent pregnancy/health decision making at a large metropolitan area juvenile detention facility (JDF). Adolescent decision making was the dependent variable. Primary independent variables were health/pregnancy beliefs and the interaction process at JDF among adolescent peers and between adolescents and staff. The goal for this study was the discovery of intervention strategies which will foster informed health and pregnancy decision making and facilitate increased adolescent responsibilities for self-care.; Theoretical and methodological approaches from medical anthropology and the ethnography of communication guided study in the belief that a holistic anthropological assessment was needed to fully comprehend the complexity of sociocultural, political, economic and environmental forces impacting upon decision making by adolescents in juvenile detention. Previously few anthropological studies had been conducted covering the issues of adolescent pregnancy in Western cultures and none had focused on male and female adolescent pregnancy resolution decisions in juvenile detention.; Multiple complementary data collection and analysis approaches were employed with a sample population of forty adolescent and ten health staff participants in conducting the study. Evidence from this study shows that adolescent participants' pregnancy resolution decisions were made primarily on the basis of belief patterns and ties with their family and neighborhood relationship networks. Interactions occurring in the detention setting were found to complicate the decision making process, but in only a few instances did cumulative interactions substantially influence decisions. However, the negative aspects of many power based staff initiated interactions were found to work against effective decision making, causing adolescent resentment rather than fostering self-reliance. The quality of health care at JDF in many cases was higher than most participants would have sought or received in their home communities, but the opportunities extant at JDF for improved prenatal health education, self-care based health maintenance, and preparation for parenting education have not been adequately exploited to benefit the adolescents.