Contact Name
Barbara Dietsch
562-799-5126
bdietsc@WestEd.org

The bad news is there are still far too many teenagers becoming mothers. Even now, black teens still have a national birth rate of 85.3 and the rate among Hispanic teens is even higher, at 93.7. The United States far surpasses other developed nations in the proportion of its teenagers becoming parents. In fact, the state with the lowest rate is similar to the highest rate in the rest of the developed world.

To continue and increase the reductions we are currently experiencing, we should start with a review of what is known about the factors associated with adolescent childbearing. Child Trends’ review of dozens of studies indicates that four broad factors have been linked to teen childbearing: poverty, early school failure, early behavior problems and family dysfunction. An understanding of these factors points out why so many previous intervention efforts have demonstrated little impact, and also suggests new directions for public policy. Specifically, in order to prevent adolescent parenthood, we need to address these fundamental predictors of teen childbearing by investing in children at an early age. To date, most programs have offered too little, too late.

Evaluation studies indicate there are no magic bullets for preventing teen pregnancy. Single-component programs (e.g., sexuality education only, abstinence education only, access to health care only) have only a modest or no effect. Rather, research suggests that the most effective strategies for preventing teen pregnancy, especially for disadvantaged teens, are multi-pronged and long-term, and focus on such issues as early childhood development, school readiness, and after-school activities.

The most efficient use of precious time and money is to implement only those strategies considered to be "best bets," based on available research. These approaches can be short-, medium-, and long-term strategies. Short-term strategies target adolescents and young adults and focus on:

1. the prevention of 2^nd pregnancies through services such as home visitation programs for teen mothers;
2. increasing access to contraceptive services, for example, on-site contraception education/counseling for females who receive a negative result on a pregnancy test;
3. providing career counseling and training opportunities to provide alternatives to parenthood for youth, and;
4. providing strong educational and employment training programs to enhance employability of youth, including those who are already parents.

Medium-term strategies target children in elementary and middle school and focus on:

1. youth development programs;
2. combined sexual education and abstinence/delay programs, and;
3. after-school programs to foster positive and productive use of time.

Long-term strategies target children from birth to early elementary school. Activities are designed to invest in children to provide a positive future and thereby motivate them to delay parenthood. These include:

1. increasing knowledge among parents about maternal and child health and developing effective parenting skills and;

2. increasing school readiness and reading capacity through early literacy programs.

Programs that are built around these strategies are more likely to address the underlying factors that are related to early parenthood. By reducing these risks, we can reduce teen parenthood.

Monitoring trends in teen sexual activity during the last decade has pointed to several additional topics that need to be highlighted as we plan for the next millennium.

• Don’t disregard the value of the abstinence message for at least some portion of youth. The percentage of teens who had ever had sex decreased between 1988 and 1995. This is a positive trend which obviously decreases the chances of pregnancy among teens.

• The message to teenage males may be paying off. From 1990-1997, there was a decrease in the percentage of high school males who were sexually active (had had sex in the last 3 months). This could be a result of increased attention to the responsibility of male teenagers in preventing teen pregnancies.
• Consistent use of contraceptives needs to be stressed. There was a dramatic increase in contraceptive use at first sex between 1988-1995, but there was a decline in use of contraceptive at last sex. Black females were the only exception to this trend; they have been consistent with their use of contraceptives at last sex. And, statistics show that 30-38 percent of sexually active teenagers are not consistent contraceptive users.
• Pay more attention to Hispanic teens. During the 1990s, Hispanic teens became the group with the highest teen birth rate. Hispanic teens actually showed an increase in sexual activity, and they are the least likely to use contraceptives at first sex.

In sum, a careful reading of research findings, trend data and evaluation studies suggests that ad hoc, brief and superficial approaches need to give way to new approaches that genuinely address the root causes of adolescent childbearing.