Objective:

The present study explored the differences in the attitude towards adolescent pregnancy between men and women, making a retrospection at the moment they find out that they are pregnant adolescents.

Method:

Descriptive transectional qualitative phenomenological study, with a sample of 305 participants between 20 and 56 years of age taken in 4 cities. For the analysis we used the word frequency technique with Boolean operators using the NVivo 12 software.

Results:

The results describe differences in the frequency of words used by men and women when asked what they felt, thought and did at that moment, except for the word support, which was present in all types of responses in both genders. The words “joy”, “responsibility”, “work”, and “family” have a lot of significance for men, while for women they were “fear,” “wanted,” and “power.” Aside from the need for support, men recall perceiving pregnancy as an obligation, while women focused on feelings, particularly fear, as well as the need to express themselves about the issue.

Conclusions:

Although there are similarities around the need for support, it seems that men tend to think of pregnancy as an obligation initially associated with joy and then move on to rejection. On the other hand, women have ambivalent feelings and emotions associated with the difficulties of becoming a mother and continuing their studies. It is suggested that public policies on adolescent pregnancy be designed with a differential gender approach, taking into account these aspects.

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