Listening to youth: teen perspectives on pregnancy prevention.
OBJECTIVE
To ascertain views of public high school students on preventing teen pregnancy. The authors hypothesized that students at varying risk for pregnancy (e.g., abstinent, consistent contraceptors, inconsistent contraceptors) would have differing views which would have implications for future pregnancy prevention programming.


METHODS
A 75-question anonymous survey designed for this study was administered in six Boston high schools. The sample consisted of 49% females and 51% males in 10th and 11th grades from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. One thousand surveys were received and analyzed using Chi-square tests to assess statistically significant differences in student responses.


RESULTS
Sixty-three percent of the students had had sexual intercourse: 72% of males and 54% of females. Of these, 35% were consistent contraceptors and 65% were inconsistent. Students believed that having more information on pregnancy and birth control (52%), education about relationships (33%), parental communication (32%), improved contraceptive access (31%), and education about parenting realities (30%) would prevent teen pregnancy. Abstinent teens were more likely (58%) to say that information on pregnancy and birth control was important (p<.05), whereas consistently contracepting teens were more likely (40%) to identify greater access to birth control (p <.01). Males were more likely than females to prefer their information on contraception from parents (23% vs. 18%) and health education classes (16% vs. 7.5%), whereas females were more likely than males to prefer the health arena (51% vs. 27%) (p<.001). Teens using contraception were also more likely to be having frequent conversations with parents (49%) (p<.001). When asked why they had not used contraception, inconsistent contraceptors were more likely than others to say that they never thought of it (15%) (p<.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Teens report that having more information from parents, school, and health arenas can prevent pregnancy. Abstinent, consistent contraceptors, and inconsistent contraceptors have different preferences regarding strategies. This information has important implications for educational content and policy discussions.
Hacker
K A
KA
Adolescent and School Services, Boston Public Health Commission, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
Amare
Y
Y
Strunk
N
N
Horst
L
L
D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D001900:Boston; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011897:Random Allocation; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data