Risking the Future Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing (1987) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 15-32
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From page 15... ...
Nevertheless, the simultaneous emergence of several social and demographic changes have made these issues more visible over the past two decades. Levels of sexual activity and pregnancy increased dramatically dunng the 1970s among an expanding population of unmarried teenagers.
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From page 16... ...
According to this new, policies and programs that acknowledge sexual activity outside marriage are believed to undermine parental authority, to legiinnize fimdamentally immoral behavior, and probably to encourage teenagers to engage in sexual intercourse at younger ages. Advocates of this new hold that parents should have authonty and responsibility for their minor (under
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From page 17... ...
Sex education and counseling, contraceptive decision making, and pregnancy resolution, they believe, should be managed withy the family and should not be matters of public policy. Others, however, argue that changing patterns of teenage sexual behanor are the inevitable consequence of broader social trends, including adult seal liberalization, the widespread use of contraception, fem:nism, changing family fonns and patterns of marriage, and changing education and work patterns.
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From page 18... ...
Still others in our somety view the most competing problem as neither early sexual activity nor abortion, but as teenage childbeanng. Adolescent mothers are significantly more likely to curtail their education, to be relegated to low-paying jobs, to be single parents, and to be on welfare than are women who delay childbearing until their ~enties.
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From page 19... ...
American teenagers receive conflicting messages about sexuality, sexual behavior, and sexual responsibility. As a recent Alan Guttmacher Institute study fin press)
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From page 20... ...
However, recent debates over teenagers' exposure to sex education in public schools, their access to family planning services, and their right to obtain an abortion have called into question the juns~iction of parents, the state, and teenagers themselves in matters of their sexual and fertility behavior. Courts are currently struggling with these issues and finding them difficult to resolve, largely because of the ambiguous relationship of adolescents to their parents and to society.
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From page 21... ...
Under the Child Health Act of 1967, Title V of the historic Social Security Act of 1935, maternal and child health funds were targeted at reducing infant mortality. Special project grants, administered by the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health Services, were made directly available to local health departments to pronde comprehensive care to children and teenagers in low-income families and to improve pregnancy outcomes through pre- and postnatal care services.
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From page 22... ...
Consistent with the Reagan administratio:3-,s philosophy of returning control of health and human services to the states, the appropnation was folded into the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant In 1981. Also In 1978, Congress amended the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970 (Title X)
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From page 23... ...
The prevention focus is primarily on promoting abstinence from premarital sexual activity through the development of strong family values. Contraceptive services to adolescents are not a major component of the program, since originators of the legislation presumed that such services are adequately pronded under Title X
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From page 24... ...
In the mid-19 70s, faced with dramatic increases in sexual activity and pregnancy among teenagers, the Center for Population Research targeted adolescent pregnancy as a priority for research support. Over the past decade, the center has administered a broad program of research on the antecedents and consequences of early sexual and fertility behavior, including the collection of national survey data on adolescent sexuality, contraceptive use, and pregnancy resolution.
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From page 25... ...
The Title XX Adolescent Family Life Act also contains a strong research component in keeping with the view of Congress that more and better information on the causes and consequences of adolescent sexual and fertility behavior is needed, especially information on prevention, abortion, repeat pregnancy, aIld the short- and long-term implications of adolescent childbearing and parenting. Since 1982, the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs has supported studies of[amilial, institutional, and societal influences on early sexual behavior and adoption, as well as the provision of services to pregnant and parenting teenagers.
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From page 26... ...
Many of the public data on incidence of sexual activity by age, sex, race, and cohort in the United States, as well as trend data on pregnancy, abortion, childbeanug, marriage, and adoption, are scattered across federal and private data banks and national surveys. Some of these data have not been previously published.
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From page 27... ...
Finally, and perhaps most unportant, such a review of available evidence will pronde a useful contribution to the continuing debate of this salient but often divisive issue, and it Wii1 suggest promising directions for Future initiatives to address the problems of adolescent pregnancy. A CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK For every young person, the pathway from sexual initiation to parenthood involves a sequence of choices: whether to begin baring intercourse; whether to continue sexual activity; whether to use contraception and, if so, what method to use; if a pregnancy occurs, whether to seek an abortion or carry the pregnancy to term and give birth; whether to marry, if that is an option; and, if a child is born outside mamage, whether to relinquish it for adoption or raise it as a single parent (see Figure Ink.
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From page 28... ...
I parenthood | /~ 1 \t Marriage Establish new | \ ~ I household I 1 marriage l FIGURE 1-1 Sequence of decisions affecting adolescent sexual and fertility behavior.
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From page 29... ...
Most of these involve direct approaches, that is, interventions specifically intended to influence the decision-making process at the time of choice (e.g., family planning services to encourage the use of contraception, pregnancy and abortion counseling to affect decisions concerning pregnancy resolutions. As Dryfoos (1984a, suggests, they are aimed at enhancing young people's "capacity to avoid early childbearing" by increasing their level of knowledge about reproduction and their access to appropriate services.
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From page 30... ...
To the extent that available data permit, we have distinguished patterns of sexual and fertility behavior by age. In reviewing the research on the antecedents and consequences of early pregnancy and childbearing, we have given special attention tO the effects of age on attitudes, behavior, and outcomes.
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From page 31... ...
Chapter 2 summarizes the available data on trends in teenage sexual and fertility behavior and assesses their adequacy and reliability. Chapter 3 discusses the societal context of adolescent pregnancy.
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