Influences of the Affective-Relational Sphere With Partners on Adolescents’ Intended Pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: to understand interconnected influences on adolescents’ intended pregnancy based on particularities of the affective-relational sphere with partners. Method: this is a qualitative-interpretive study, carried out with 16 pregnant adolescents living in a neighborhood with a low socioeconomic level in a capital in the center-west of Brazil. Data were collected in 2019 through in-depth interviews, with complementary use of self-portrait, relational map and photo-elicitation resources, subjected to thematic content analysis. Results: adolescents’ intention-action towards becoming pregnant was based on status assessment and romantic relationship quality with their partners in terms of marriage/union, bond-commitment, partnership-financial protection and good interaction-love. They expressed needs for emotional bonding and material security, psychological particularities of their stage of development, in addition to social representations built on the conjugal and loving relationship and being a man and a woman in the family. Connectedly, it reflected on social conditions and family relationships experienced as well as absorptions of the cultural ideal of romantic and gender love. Conclusion: in adolescents’ reproductive health, it is essential to consider the affective influences on being pregnant, without detaching them from their social and family insertions as well as their ways of exercising agency over their affective-sexual trajectories.