Research Seed Grant | 2007-2008

The Social Dynamics of Pregnancy and Contraceptive Risk

by Mark Orr (The Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health)

Current theoretical approaches to understanding pregnancy and contraceptive risk behavior, despite clarifying the key risk factors involved, are inadequate as explanations of pregnancy and contraceptive risk behaviors. We propose a novel theoretical approach that draws on complex and dynamical systems theory to explain such behaviors. The proposed work uses both differential equations and agent-based models as the basis for the theoretical work. Furthermore, the proposal will include benchmarking the theoretical work to existing demographic data.