Preventing Pregnancy in High School Students: Observations From a 3-Year Longitudinal, Quasi-Experimental Study.
OBJECTIVE
To assess whether a sexual health education intervention reduces pregnancy rates in high school students.


METHODS
We performed a secondary analysis of a 3-year quasi-experimental study performed in South Texas from 2011 to 2015 in which 1437 students without a history of pregnancy at baseline were surveyed each fall and spring. Potentially confounding risk factors considered included sexual behaviors, intentions, and demographics. The outcome measure was self-reported pregnancy status for male and female students. We performed analyses for male and female students using separate discrete time-to-event models.


RESULTS
We found no difference in pregnancy rates between intervention and comparison students within the first 3 years of high school. Female and male students in the intervention groups had pregnancy hazard ratios of, respectively, 1.62 (95% CI = 0.9, 2.61; P = .1) and 0.78 (95% CI = 0.44, 1.48; P = .4) relative to the comparison groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The educational intervention had no impact on the pregnancy rate. Social media tools in pregnancy prevention programs should be adaptive to new technologies and rapidly changing adolescent preferences for these services.
Jonathan Gelfond is with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center at San Antonio. Nicole Dierschke, Diana Lowe, and Kristen Plastino are with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and UT Teen Health, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Jonathan
J
Gelfond
Jonathan Gelfond is with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center at San Antonio. Nicole Dierschke, Diana Lowe, and Kristen Plastino are with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and UT Teen Health, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Nicole
N
Dierschke
Jonathan Gelfond is with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center at San Antonio. Nicole Dierschke, Diana Lowe, and Kristen Plastino are with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and UT Teen Health, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Diana
D
Lowe
Jonathan Gelfond is with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center at San Antonio. Nicole Dierschke, Diana Lowe, and Kristen Plastino are with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and UT Teen Health, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Kristen
K
Plastino
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