Preventing Teen Pregnancy
...topic that
makes both parent and child uneasy. Some argue that the discussion of sex between
parent and child could lead to the child experimenting with sexual intercourse
prematurely. Others believe that educating children helps to prevent unwanted pregnancy.
Unwanted pregnancy among young adults is a root cause of various social challenges
associated with poverty.
The prevention of teen pregnancy among young adults can be accomplished by
educating young adults. Sexual education promotes an awareness of the outcome of the
any decision regarding a sexual experience. Educating the youth also establishes some
other preventive measures. Some recent findings suggest that sex education might lead
teen pregnancy, and there are no indications that it boosts the levels of sexual intercourse
or sexually transmitted diseases (Brown, 2008). The researchers found that one in four
teens received abstinence-only education. Nine percent, particularly the poor, received no
sex education at all (Brown, 2008). The other two-thirds received comprehensive
instruction with discussion of birth control. Furthermore, teens who received
comprehensive sex education were 60 % less likely to report becoming pregnant or
impregnating someone than those who received no sex education. The study did not
explore the hottest debate in sex education: whether classes should teach about
contraception or focus entirely on abstinence. While the study suggests a link between
sex education and sexual behavior, researchers did not design it to prove a cause-and-
effect relationship between the two definitively (Hamilton, 2007).
The United States still has the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the fully
industrialized world. U.S. rates are twice as high as in Canada, and eight times as high as
in...
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