Elephant in the Room: A Content Analysis of Unplanned Parenthood and Subsequent Drop-Out for Black Community College Students
Leah P. Hollis, EdD

Introduction
Few studies examine the association between community college students’ risky sexual behavior, unplanned pregnancy, and the subsequent withdrawal from school. Further, students’ nonchalant attitudes and lacking access to health care and information about contraceptive use may exacerbate the problem. Hence, comprehensive sexuality education can assist Black community college students to make sound contraceptive decisions and to avoid unplanned consequences. Given the lack of empirical research on the connection between unplanned pregnancy and student retention for Black community college students, this content analysis using Krippendorff’s procedures (1980) develops themes from 100 articles and reports on sex education, relationship status, social norms, and contraceptive use. The resulting analysis using social ignorance theory (Ungar, 2008) shows that nonchalant attitudes regarding sexual practices and social norms influence risky sexual behavior for Black community college students, which can be associated with unplanned pregnancy and eventually withdrawing from school.

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