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  • Title: What the United States can learn about prevention of teenage pregnancy from other developed countries.
    Author: Dryfoos J.
    Journal: SIECUS Rep; 1985 Nov; 14(2):1-7. PubMed ID: 12280295.
    Abstract:
    In the US the proportion of teenagers who are sexually active has plateaued, or even decreased a little; marital births to teens have dropped significantly so that an increasing proportion of births to teenagers takes place out of wedlock, and the number of and rate of abortions have remained the same for several years. About 6% (62/1000) of US girls aged 15-17 had either a birth or an abortion in 1981 as did 14% (144/1000) of 18-19-year-olds. This review of the comparative study of teenage pregnancies in developed countries summarizes the principal findings of a 2-stage study carried out by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) with the collaboration of members of the staff of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. The weight of the evidence, with all its limitations, rests heavily on Sweden and the Netherlands, which fall into the category of "welfare states." Young people grow up in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance by their families and their society and, in return, most of them achieve adulthood by acting responsibly. The reward for this behavior is the assurance of social supports throughout one's lifetime, even when employment opportunities are limited. England and France follow this pattern of national commitment, social benefits, and openness about sex to a lesser degree. Compared to the US, in all of these countries the message is more consistent; children do not grow up with such a dissonance between public and private morality. The study makes it clear that unintended childbearing is a problem somewhat unique to the US in comparison to western European countries. The major findings challenge the US to respond to 2 levels of directives. A climate has to be created that accepts the fact of premarital sex and gives young people the equipment to experience it responsibly. For the US, this directive is complicated by the social conditions in which many young people live today. The compounding effects of poverty and minority status are grinding under a whole generation of young people whose options are severely limited. To change the sexual climate, it is necessary to do something to alleviate the social and economic problems of the children in the inner cities and the Appalachian region of America. For those impatient with more global issues, the study offers some specifics in the field of sex education. Teacher training appears to be an almost universal need.
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