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Biomedical subjects

Henry P David

Publications and source records attributed to Henry P David.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Born unwanted, 35 years later: the Prague study.

A long-held belief among mental health practitioners is that being born unwanted carries a risk of negative psychosocial development and poor mental health in adulthood. The Prague Study was designed to test this hypothesis. It followed the development and mental well-being of 220 children (now adults) born in 1961-63 in Prague to women twice denied abortion for the same unwanted pregnancy. The children were individually pair-matched at about age nine with 220 children born from accepted pregnancies when no abortion had been requested. This article brings together in one place the theoretical assumptions and hypotheses, the criteria for selecting the study participants and major findings from five follow-up waves conducted among the children around the ages of 9, 14-16, 21-23, 28-31 and 32-35 years, plus a sub-study of married unwanted pregnancy subjects and accepted pregnancy controls at ages 26-28. To control for potential confounding factors in data interpretation, all siblings of all subjects were included in the last two waves. It was found that differences in psychosocial development widened over time but lessened at around age 30. All the differences consistently disfavoured the unwanted pregnancy subjects, especially only children (no siblings). They became psychiatric patients (especially in-patients) more frequently than the accepted pregnancy controls and also more often than their siblings. The overall findings suggest that, in the aggregate, denial of abortion for unwanted pregnancy entails an increased risk for negative psychosocial development and mental well-being in adulthood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Psychology, population, and reproductive behavior.

This special section on international perspectives in psychology focuses on population issues and reproductive behavior across national and cultural boundaries, emphasizing the responsibility of psychologists and colleagues in related disciplines to generate and communicate culturally mindful findings likely to shape public health policy and improve human well-being. After considering the historical and policy context, it highlights internationally collaborative research projects in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Mexico, and the United States that address reproductive behavior, women's roles and status, responsible parenthood, and abortion legislation in terms of cultural context, gender equity, the needs of adolescents, and public health policy. The articles illustrate the importance of the cultural context within which psychological research is conducted and how psychology can be informed by international perspectives.

Culture↗
PubMed2003

Born unwanted. Observations from the Prague Study.

The authors followed 220 children born in 1961-1963 to women twice denied abortion for the same pregnancy in Prague (Czech Republic) and 220 pair-matched controls, whose mothers were pair-matched for age and socioeconomic status and the partner's presence in the home. They were medically, psychologically, and socially assessed at ages 9, 14-16, 21-23, 30, and 35. Although differences in psychosocial development between the unwanted study participants and pair-matched controls were not dramatic and changed over time, the differences were consistently in disfavor of the unwanted pregnancy participants. When siblings were used as controls, the findings supported the hypothesis that being born from an unwanted pregnancy is a risk factor for poor mental health in adulthood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

The mental health of adults born of unwanted pregnancies, their siblings, and matched controls: a 35-year follow-up study from Prague, Czech Republic.

This study tested the hypothesis that being born of an unwanted pregnancy is a risk factor for poor mental health in adulthood. Self-report and objective data were collected at ages 28 to 31 and 32 to 35 years in a cohort of nearly 200 "unwanted" subjects born after their mothers had been twice denied an abortion for the same pregnancy. The same data were collected in a sociodemographically matched control cohort of "accepted" subjects whose mothers had not requested an abortion, and from siblings of both the unwanted subjects and the accepted control subjects. Logistic regression analyses conducted with several indicators of poor mental health in adulthood as dependent variables brought partial support for the hypothesis. Specifically, unwanted subjects became psychiatric patients (especially psychiatric inpatients) more frequently than their siblings and the accepted controls. Criminality, alcohol-related disorders, and heavy smoking were not associated with unwanted pregnancy.

Abortion Applicants↗
PubMed1992

Acceptability of mifepristone for early pregnancy interruption.

It is the purpose of this article to review the current status of early pregnancy interruption with mifepristone (RU 486) combined with a prostaglandin analogue from the standpoint of its acceptability to women. Also discussed are the need for uniform terminology in acceptability studies, observations from clinical trials in California, France, and the United Kingdom, and comments on eventual utilization in developing countries.

Abortion, Induced↗