Pregnancy during residency: I. The decision "to be or not to be".

Almost 50% of married female residents become pregnant during their residency. The desire to have a baby and a concern about age influence the decision to become pregnant. Career concerns, financial issues, and child care are less important. In addition, support of the faculty or house staff is not a crucial factor in decision making. In this study, over 25% of the pregnancies were unplanned. The female residents who had unplanned pregnancies had an increased likelihood of having a conflict between their desire to have a baby and their fear of not achieving career expectations.