The relationship of self-esteem and goal-orientation to adolescent contraceptive compliance

Abstract

A comparative correlational design was used to examine the relationship between self-esteem and goal-ririentation ahd contraceptive behavior among four gr_oups of· -adolescent females. The four groups included those· who were compliant J ' with contraceptives, those who were not sexually active, those who were sexually act'ive without contraceptives, and thqse who were pregnant. The 47 adolescent females were administered the Coopersmith Self-Esteem.Inventory as a measure,of self-esteem and the Offer_Self-Image Questionnaire for Adoles_cents as a measure of goalorientation. Three hypotheses were tested. The first, which stated there would be-· a positive relationship between , se·lf-esteem and goal-orientation. was no't supported using Pearsonian Correlational_Statistics. The second hypothesis stated there would be significant differences in the selfesteem scores among the four -groups. This hypothesis was . ' tested.and not supported. using one-way.analysis of variance techniques. The third hypothesis _stated there would be significant ·differences in the goal-or~entation scores· among the four groups. This hypothesis· was also not supported using one-way· analysis.of·variance techriiqu~s. Although .none of the. three hypotheses were supported, two interesting findings did emerge related to contraceptive usage and trends in the self_.esteem scores among the_four groups. Those adolescents who stated they were using_ contraceptiyes had significantly higher_selfesteem and goal-orientation scores than those who were not using contraception. The n;tean.score of those adolescents who were compliant with contraceptives was higher than that of the other. three groups of adolescents. Recommendations t·o be considered in the future -by those working with adolescent pregnancy are included.