Table 2

Plans’ themes, frequency counts, and examples, by outlook

Outlook	Theme	Plan frequency (n)	Examples
Aspirational (n=1692)	Child-related	274	“Hopefully by then I’ll have a baby”; “Taking care of my child”
	Employment	298	“I hope I’m in the work force”; “Hopefully I will have a career”; “I’ll have a job with benefits”
	Educational	255	“Hopefully still in college”; “I’ll have an education”; “I will have graduated from school”
	Relationship status	211	“Hopefully I’ll be married by then”; “…and possibly be in a relationship”; “Hopefully I am settled down and married”; “Be married, have a good husband”
	Living situation/residence	188	“Hopefully I still have my apartment”; “I would be owning my own house”; “I think I’ll be living on my own instead of living with family”; “Living with my boyfriend in a house or apartment”
	Emotional	186	“I hope it will be great”; “[I] wouldn’t be worried as much as I am”; “Living life happy”; “I just hope that it gets better”; “Hopefully it is going in a good direction and I’m in a good place and happy”
	Other	163	“I hope to get a dog”; “Maintaining my sobriety”; “I just keep doing things to improve our situation”
	Financial	117	“I should be financially stable”; “…and providing better for my children”; “…and not living paycheck to paycheck”
Neutral (n=146)	Child-related	48	“My future is dedicated to my kids and their education”
	Educational	4	“Not attending school”
	Relationship status	4	“Maybe I’ll be married, maybe I won’t be”
	Living situation/residence	17	“I’ll probably be living in another city”; “Probably won’t be in Oregon anymore”
	Emotional	4	“I will be okay”
	Employment	2	“No longer working for [business name]”
	Financial	1	“Trying to make it through”
	Other	66	“I don’t see it being that different”; “I am not thinking that far ahead”
Negative (n=26)	Child-related	9	“Same deal, [the child] will be with me for the rest of my life”
	Emotional	7	“Probably stressful”
	Financial	5	“The bills will probably get more expensive as the kids get older”; “Broke”
	Other	5	“I’m just trying to make it through today”