Health In Shape

After years of relatively little media attention, teenage pregnancy is suddenly in the limelight. According to the latest findings by the National Center for Health Statistics, the teen birthrate increased for the first time in the United States since 1991, after plummeting for more than a decade.  What’s more, the tabloids are filled with articles about 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy, and moviegoers are turning out in droves to see “Juno,” the hit comedy that presents a fairy-tale version of a pregnant teenager who places her baby up for adoption.

Bill Albert, deputy director of Washington, D.C.-based National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, stresses that all this focus on teenage pregnancy provides a golden opportunity for parents to talk to their teenagers about sex.

“One of the most consistent things parents tell us from our surveys is that they recognize the need to talk about sex with their teenagers, but that they don’t know what to say and when to say it,” Albert says. Discussing topics like the Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy is the perfect place to start. Albert encourages parents to begin talking to children about sex before they are teenagers. “This shouldn’t be a one-time conversation, but more of an 18-year conversation.”

The numbers speak for themselves
According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy, 3 out of 10 teens in the United States become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20. (The  United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the western world.) The most recent Your Risk Behavior Survey revealed that 34.3% of 9th graders nationwide – and 63.1% of 12th graders – engage in sexual behavior.

“The fact of the matter is, despite an increase in funding for abstinence programs over the last several years, teenagers are still having sex,” says Kimberly McClanahan, associate professor of adolescent medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and psychologist with the university’s Young Parents Program.

Why are so many teens getting pregnant?
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why there’s been a national upswing in teen pregnancies, but one of the reasons may be that 14 consecutive years of declines in the teen birthrate may have led to complacency and may have diverted attention, resources and funding to other issues. McClanahan also believes that one of the problems is that many sexually active teens are often embarrassed to get contraception, and private, low-cost family-planning services are often not available.

McClanahan has also heard pregnant teens say that they wanted to get pregnant because the baby will love them – unlike others in their lives. “These teens don’t have the level of thinking to understand that a baby is not a doll; it’s a living, breathing human being that requires 24/7 of your energy,” she says.

What you can do for your own daughter
Studies have shown that children whose parents talk to them about sexual matters and provide sex education at home are more likely than others to postpone sexual activity. “If parents have created a safe environment where communication is encouraged, it’s much easier to discuss these topics,” says Brent Barcellona, a USC social worker who works with teens and their families in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. “The best scenario is when parents allow their kids to tell their story, as opposed to when parents lecture or dictate how their teens should behave,” says Barcellona.

If an environment exists in which communication is encouraged, then if a teen starts to exhibit risky behaviors, it’s possible for the parents to convey their concerns to the point where the teen is actually listening.

The following tips can also help:

>> Open the conversation by posing a series of questions to your teen. What do you think about this? Do you think a 16-year-old is ready for sex and for the lifetime commitment of having a child? What do you think will happen to her life?

>> Help girls develop a plan to walk away from anyone pressuring them to have sex. (Three of 4 girls and more than 1/2 of boys report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriends want them to.)

>> Listen carefully to what your children say and pay close attention to what they do.

>> Be aware of what your kids are watching, reading and listening to. Encourage teens to think critically about the media’s messages.

Parent Resource: teenpregnancy.org

Carol Daus is a contributing writer to Inland Empire Family Magazine.