Effective approaches to reducing adolescent unprotected sex pregnancy and childbearing -- statistical data included.

Although teenage pregnancy and birth rates have declined in the United States every year since 1991 the United States still has one of the highest pregnancy rates in the developed world; about 40% of all young women become pregnant before they turn 20 and about one fourth of sexually experienced teenagers contracts an STD every year. These alarming statistics have motivated efforts to delay teenagers initiation of sex and to increase their use of condoms and contraception more generally if they do have sex. For example communities concerned with the reproductive health of youth have implemented curriculum-based sexuality and HIV education programs in both school and community settings sex and HIV education programs for parents and their families family planning services for teenagers clinic instructional programs with one-on-one consultation with a medical provider school-based and school-linked clinics school condom-availability programs community-wide pregnancy or HIV prevention initiatives with many components early childhood programs and youth development programs for adolescents (e.g. service learning programs vocational education and employment programs and other youth development programs). This paper summarizes a review of 73 studies meeting specified criteria. The six primary criteria include (a) the study was published in 1980 or later (b) the study was conducted in the United States or Canada (c) the program targeted adolescents of middle school or high school age (roughly 12 to 18) (d) the study used an appropriate experimental or quasi-experimental design (e) the sample size was at least 100 in the combined treatment and control group and (f) the study measured impact on sexual or contraceptive behavior or pregnancy or childbearing. This review identified four groups of programs with strong evidence of success. (excerpt)