Pregnancy really is contagious – and scientists say they have the research to prove it!
A study, published by The American Sociological Association journal, looked at 1,720 women who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health) in the United States over a ten year span from the 1990s to 2000s.
When the women started the experiment they were 15 years old and researchers found that more than half of the women in the experiment had a child by the end of the study.
One of the most mentioned factors for having a child was things such as “friendships ties”.
This cites a probable reason for a strong “contagion” explains the study notes, as humans tend to behave to suit their environment and “interpersonal relationships” also helps influence the decisions we make.
“We found this effect to be short-term and inverse U-shaped: an individual’s risk of childbearing starts increasing after a friend’s childbearing, reaches a peak around two years later, then decreases,” concludes the study notes.
“We anticipated that a friend’s childbearing experience may be an important source of learning, because it provides relevant and useful information about how to face the transition to parenthood,” say the study notes.
Did your friends fall pregnant around the same time?
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