What helps prevent teen pregnancy?
• The primary reason that teenage girls who have never had intercourse give for abstaining from sex is that having sex would be against their religious or moral values. Other reasons cited include desire to avoid pregnancy, fear of contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and not having met the appropriate partner. Three of four girls and over half of boys report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriends want them to. • Teenagers who have strong emotional attachments to their parents are much less likely to become sexually active at an early age. • Parents rate high among many teens as trustworthy and preferred information sources on birth control. One in two teens say they “trust” their parents most for reliable and complete information about birth control, only 12 percent say a friend. • Teens who have been raised by both parents (biological or adoptive) from birth, have lower probabilities of having sex than teens who grew up in any other family situation. At a
