Can the use of a method such as role play help reduce sexual risk behaviour among KwaZulu-Natal learners? A study was undertaken of the use of role plays by Grade 8 learners, at eight urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal high schools, as part of a programme to reduce the prevalence of teenage pregnancy. Within the framework of Bandura's Social Cognitive…

Evaluated effects of a year-long, school-based program for 126 white adolescent girls. Program was designed to improve self-concept, expectations for future, educational plans, perceptions of maternal acceptance, and other perceptions. Intervention participants revealed less traditional sex role orientations, improved self-concept, and lessened…

Examines narratives and novels written for young adults that deal with teenage pregnancy and parenting. Discusses eight common messages found in 17 such short stories and books, and notes three areas of significant silence. (SR)

This research study compared the self-concept of women who had chosen first trimester abortion to those who were sexually active but had never experienced pregnancy. Subjects were stratified according to age groups: 13-19, 20-29, and 30 years of age and over. The sample was selected from clients of an intercity abortion agency and students of an…

This article explores the politics surrounding the education of pregnant/mothering students. Utilizing Title IX, which guarantees the rights of pregnant/mothering students to an education equal to her peers, as an analytical lens, the author specifically identifies how absences in knowledge, research, and practice about the education of…

This study explored the differences between African American and Latina female adolescents who desire to become pregnant and those who do not. Five hundred and thirty-one sexually experienced, never pregnant adolescents completed surveys containing questions about demographics, sexual behavior and contraceptive use, sexual and contraceptive…

For the past several decades, the teenage birth rate in the United States has exceeded that of other industrialized nations. To explore the factors behind this high birth rate, this volume summarizes recent research conducted in the United States on the perceived causes of teenage childbearing. This review is organized around the events leading to…

This article describes a procedure for group discussion between parents and adolescents on matters of human sexuality. (DB)

This report presents ethnographic case studies of the life circumstances and experiences of 18 low-income adolescents who participated in Project Redirection, a national program which provides educational and family planning services at the local level to pregnant teens and mothers. Information on the teens' family background, patterns of…

Study examined perceptions of pregnancy, including life-expectations, desire for pregnancy, and knowledge of menstrual cycle in a sample of pregnant urban adolescents. Results indicate that, although teens were aware of birth control methods, they had little understanding of menstrual cycle and its relationship to intercourse. And while few…

The Mott Foundation has been involved with the issue of teenage pregnancy for 15 years, and has supported a network of programs with the main objective of finding new ways to deal with the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy. This report, which reflects the Foundation's perspective, is divided into six sections. The first provides an…

This paper reports on a study of teenage sexual activity and pregnancy in Utah, conducted to understand ways of dealing with the State's rising adolescent fertility rate. The paper identifies social and cultural characteristics which distinguish sexually active youth from their abstinent peers. Related research is reviewed and methodology is…

Reports on a study to determine how socioeconomic status influences adolescent premarital pregnancy. Finds that African Americans' risk of pregnancy is heightened by both contraceptive behavior and exposure to sexual intercourse. Also finds that the mother's educational level is a powerful inhibitor of pregnancy for both African Americans and…

Studies the influence of self-esteem, locus of control, attitudes toward women's family roles, attitudes toward school, educational aspirations, and religiosity on the probability of teenage premarital pregnancy and its resolution. Results for 1,142 white adolescent girls show that self-esteem and attitudes toward schooling and family roles were…

Reviews literature on issues of sexuality for adolescent girls, interweaving quotes from adolescent mothers. Information comes from the author's work educating teenage parents. The article focuses on the relationship of social pressures to sexuality, femininity, the body, silence and rebellion, adolescent motherhood, and sexual abuse. (SM)