A new government study suggests a lot of teenage girls are clueless about their chances of getting pregnant.
In a survey of thousands of teenage mothers who had unintended pregnancies, about a third who didn't use birth control said the reason was they didn't believe they could pregnant.
Why they thought that isn't clear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey didn't ask teens to explain.
But other researchers have talked to teen moms who believed they couldn't get pregnant the first time they had sex, didn't think they could get pregnant at that time of the month or thought they were sterile.
"This report underscores how much misperception, ambivalence and magical thinking put teens at risk for unintended pregnancy," said Bill Albert, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
Other studies have asked teens about their contraception use and beliefs about pregnancy. But the CDC report released Thursday is the first to focus on teens who didn't want to get pregnant but did.
The researchers interviewed nearly 5,000 teenage girls in 19 states who gave birth after unplanned pregnancies in 2004 through 2008. The survey was done through mailed questionnaires with telephone follow-up.
About half of the girls in the survey said they were not using any birth control when they got pregnant. That's higher than surveys of teens in general, which have found that fewer than 20 percent said they didn't use contraception the last time they had sex...
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Teen moms clueless about how they got pregnant
This from TeenTribune:
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3 comments:
Do parents not discuss this with their children anymore?
Maybe we should see if could get this included in the national standards and part of our assessment package!
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Honestly! Reading through this, along with other incidents of teen pregnancies, it's shocking to see how many people don't understand how easy the possibility is! Personally, I blame the lack of parent involvement as well as the lack of sexual education in school systems. Without the proper knowledge, teens are trying to figure out things on their own, to many parents' dismay, but they aren't being properly educated on the risks and probabilities
Does the public schools realize how easy it is for teens to get prego on school property? Apparently not. In a small town in southern indiana it happened. I am a very disappointed parent. I am considering making it very public after the school isnt claiming any responsibility, and there arent any attorneys that will take on a public school. They always ask where were the parents at? well, how about where was the school staff at?
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