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California adolescents' use of family planning services.

Article Excerpt
In "A Comparison of Hispanic and White Adolescent Females' Use of Family Planning Services in California" [2004, 36(4):157-161], M. Rosa Solorio and colleagues conduct a secondary analysis based on the 2001 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). The question they address regarding group-specific uses and needs for family planning services in California is certainly an important one, and we do not dispute their conclusion that "a need exists for family planning programs to target Hispanic adolescents before they become pregnant, and to send a clear message that contraceptive services are available and should be used before a woman ever has a pregnancy." However, we question whether their analyses add any support to this largely self-evident conclusion. Our main concerns relate to questionable interpretations based on very small numbers of subgroup members and the low but unreported overall adolescent response rate.

The key analyses that the authors interpret compare the use of family planning services for ever-pregnant white and Hispanic 14 17-year-olds. Although not reported in the article, a few calculations based on Table 2 indicate that within these subgroups, approximately two and five individuals, respectively, reported using family planning...