What works to prevent teen pregnancy?
Fortunately, I have good news here. Ive been involved in this field for nearly 30 years, and, frankly, for most of that time it has been discouraging work the rates of teen pregnancy and childbearing were high, often increasing, and we didnt know what to do about it. Finally, we have some answers. This past May, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy released a comprehensive research review called Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy. Let me briefly summarize what this review found. Most importantly, there are a variety of programs that are effective – some that focus on sex and some that do not. The review identified three particular types: • Several sex and HIV education programs have been shown to delay sex or increase contraceptive use for up to 30 months. The effective programs share ten clearly definable characteristics. It is also important to point out that the overwhelming weight of research evidence clearly shows that sex and HIV e
