Knowledge and attitudes about abortion among undergraduate students

• David Alvargonzález ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Oviedo

     Universidad de Oviedo

     Oviedo, España

     
• Localización: Psicothema, ISSN-e 1886-144X, ISSN 0214-9915, Vol. 29, Nº. 4, 2017, págs. 520-526
• Idioma: inglés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Conocimientos y actitudes de los estudiantes universitarios hacia el aborto
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen
  • español

    Antecedentes: se estudian las actitudes hacia el aborto provocado y el conocimiento sobre el aborto de alumnos pertenecientes a once carreras universitarias teniendo, además, en cuenta el género, la afiliación política y religiosa, la orientación sexual y la experiencia sexual previa. Método: 1.025 estudiantes (58,34% mujeres, 41,66% hombres;

    edad media 20,18 años) de once carreras de la Universidad de Oviedo cumplimentaron dos instrumentos: una adaptación de la Abortion Attitudes Scale de Hill y una adaptación del Abortion Knowledge Test de Esposito y Basow. Resultados: en una escala de actitudes del 0 al 100, los estudiantes de medicina, psicología y enfermería se situaron en posiciones más antiabortistas (55,93, 54,19 y 53,62, respectivamente), mientras que los estudiantes de historia, filología y físicas se mostraron más favorables al aborto (48,44, 48,49 y 50.12, respectivamente). Los estudiantes de derecho, medicina y enfermería mostraron tener más conocimientos acerca del aborto; los de física, ingeniería y filología resultaron ser los más ignorantes. Conclusiones: se encontraron diferencias en las actitudes hacia el aborto y en el conocimiento sobre el aborto dependiendo del itinerario académico. Se encontraron diferencias en las actitudes frente al aborto según la afiliación religiosa, la religiosidad, la orientación política y la experiencia sexual previa.

  • English

    Background: This study examined attitudes towards and knowledge about abortion among undergraduate students doing eleven different subjects. The differences in attitudes and knowledge about abortion according to gender, religious and political affi liation, religiosity, sexual orientation, number of sex partners and previous sexual experience were also considered. Method: 1,025 undergraduate students (58.34% women and 41.66% men; mean age 20.18) completed the following instruments:

    an adaptation of the Abortion Attitudes Scale by Hill, and an adaptation of Abortion Knowledge Test by Esposito and Basow. Results: With attitudes ranging from 0 to 100, medicine, psychology and nursing students were in the anti-abortion range (55.93, 54.19 and 53.62, respectively) while history, philology and physics students were in the pro-abortion rights range (48.44, 48.49 and 50.12, respectively). Law, medicine and nursing students showed greater theoretical knowledge about abortion, while physics, engineering and philology students proved to be the least knowledgeable. Conclusions: Differences were found in students’ attitudes towards abortion and in knowledge about abortion depending on their degree subject. As in previous reports, differences were found in students´ attitudes towards abortion which refl ected differences in religious affi liation, religiosity, political affi liation, and previous sexual experience.

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