On September 17th, the journal Reproductive Health published an article, "Religiosity and teen birth rate in the United States," on the relationship between teen birth rates and "religiosity" (level of religious affiliation) by state. The study found that the states with the highest religiosity also had the highest teen birth rates, even when controlling for income and abortion rates (the study also found that high religiosity correlated with lower income levels and lower likelihood of abortion). Predictably in this contentious field, there are already some who question the overall analytic approach of the study.

Even so, the speculation of the study's authors that "conservative religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging use of contraception among their teen community members than in discouraging sexual intercourse itself" is worth contemplating. On a personal level (I'll leave the policy theorizing for Rachel Maddow), I've spoken to several of my colleagues from religious backgrounds about this study and they all echoed the theory offered by several blogs and articles--that teens from religious backgrounds are less likely than other teens to use contraception when they do have sex because they don't think it works, or because they feel that thinking about contraception would suggest premeditation and intention.

Normally, I would preface this with an explanatory statement, conveying the seriousness with which we approach our work (especially in the policy realm). But sometimes, you just have to stop and smell the roses. And by "smell the roses," I mean "laugh 'til it hurts at Stephen Colbert."

The first thing I noticed about this video (besides the exaggeratedly bad acting)? Inaccurate information about contraception (it's true that abstinence is the only way to be 100% sure to avoid pregnancy and STDs, but using a condom is a lot safer than having sex without one). The second thing I noticed? Gender stereotypes turned upside down! Ok, I'm being a little dramatic, but really, it's almost refreshing to see all the old cliches of teens pressuring each other to have sex before they're ready reversed to show the girl as the aggressor. Contrary to popular belief, women's sex drives are comparable to men's, yet popular culture often perpetuates the stereotype that men always want sex and women--well--don't.

We all know it takes two to make a baby (well, so far, anyway?), yet the focus of teen pregnancy prevention and the responsibility for sexual decision-making in general so often falls upon young women. There are many good reasons for this, of course, including the fact that girls are often the ones who have to deal with the consequences of their sexual decisions and the fact that resources for prevention efforts are often very limited. Even so, guys have been getting a bit more much-deserved attention of late for the role they can and should play in forming healthy relationships and making responsible decisions. Nevertheless, many existing male involvement initiatives focus on men who are already fathers, rather than reaching young men before they become parents.

This piece is cross-posted on RH Reality Check.

There is reason to be concerned on this 8th National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The extraordinary decline in teen pregnancy and childbearing - one of the nation's preeminent success stories of the past two decades - is in danger of being reversed. Cue sober music.

From the early 1990s, until 2007, the teen pregnancy rate in the United States plummeted 38 percent and the teen birth rate declined by about one-third. State and local level trends mirrored national trends almost everywhere: Over the past decade, we've seen declining rates of teen pregnancy in all 50 states and among all racial and ethnic groups - extraordinary progress on an issue many once considered intractable.

However, the most recent news on this front has not been as positive. After 14 straight years of declines, the national teen birth rate increased 5 percent between 2005 and 2007 and many states are reporting statistically significant increases in their respective rates of early childbearing as well.

President Obama's proposed budget contains the following language:

"The budget supports State, community-based, and faith-based efforts to reduce teen pregnancy using evidence-based models. The program will fund models that stress the importance of abstinence while providing medically-accurate and age-appropriate information to youth who have already become sexually active."

Stay tuned, more in due course...

Does media influence teen sexual behavior? Can media be used to impact teen behavior in a good way?

Almost everyone has an opinion about the influence of the media on teens' behaviors ranging from violence and drug use to sex. In a report released today, Managing the Media Monster: The Influence of Media (from television to text messages) on Teen Sexual Behavior and Attitudes, we've turned to five experts to uncover the research on this topic and help us better understand how media can be used to promote healthy behaviors (such as abstaining from sex or using contraception every time you have sex).

The introduction, written by Dr. Jane Brown, provides a brief overview of the report and includes the key recommendations for consideration if you are developing a media program. Chapter 1, by Dr. Michael Rich, explores what the research tells us about the link between media and teen sexual behavior. You might remember a study that was released last November about the link between exposure to sexual content and teen pregnancy. Dr. Rich discusses this study and many more in his chapter. What do you think about the link between media and teen sexual behavior?

Chapter 2, by Drs. Tilly Gurman and Carol Underwood, explores effective media interventions from the international community. There have been a lot of fantastic media interventions implemented and evaluated outside of the U.S. and they offer some important lessons learned for U.S. practitioners. Chapter 3, by Dr. Sarah Keller, also focuses on media interventions, but takes a look at those implemented in the U.S. She also discusses the potential application of digital technologies for changing teen behavior, and provides some examples of what researchers have been trying out. Do you have any suggestions for how we might use media to influence teen behavior?

Many people have plenty to say about the media and its influence on teens, especially when it's about teens, sex, and the media. This report and supporting materials—including tips for starting a media campaign and working with the media—can be found on our Web site and provide a clear look at what rigorous research tells us about the negative and the positive when it comes to teens, sex, and the media. So, grab a cup of coffee, take a look, and tell us what you think. Enjoy!

Big study came out about today about abstinence and virginity pledges. The headline is that teens who take virginity pledges (sometimes as part of an abstinence-only education program) are no less likely to have sex -- but they are much less likely to use protection when they do.

This nation has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on abstinence-only education, with barely a condom's width of proof that any of it is helping. So what makes this study different from all the others that have also questioned the efficacy of such pledges? For starters, this time they looked at teens who were quite similar to one another in numerous ways (attitudes about sex, religion, birth control, etc. -- also their parents' attitudes), and found that the big difference between those who promised to stay virgins until marriage and those who did not wasn't in the having sex department, it was in the having safe sex department.

Continuing a tradition from last year, the British Journal of Medicine recently released a list of 6 medical myths that most people (even doctors) believe. In honor of their new tradition I'd like to add a few myths about teen and unplanned pregnancy to the list.  What myths have you heard from your friends and family?  Tell us about them in the comments field below.

6 Myths about Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy for the Holiday Season:

1. It won't happen to me.
   Nearly half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned, which suggests that having an unplanned pregnancy is a lot more common than many people realize.  More than 80% of teen pregnancies are unplanned and a full 70% of pregnancies to single women in their twenties are unplanned as well.
   
   
2. Parents don't matter.
   Teens consistently say that teens are the most influential when it comes to their decisions about sex.  Other research also indicates that parents play a huge role in the decisions that teens make, and a close relationship between teens and their parents decreases their risk for teen pregnancy.  Worried about talking to your kids about sex, love, and relationships?  The National Campaign has some tips to get you started.
    
3. A baby will make him stay.
   In fact among teen mothers, eight out of ten fathers don't marry the mother of their child.  These absent fathers pay less than $800 annually for child support, often because they are poor themselves. Children who live apart from their fathers are also five times more likely to be poor than children with both parents at home.
   
   Women who have an unplanned pregnancy and birth are also much less likely to either move in with their partner or get married compared to women who plan their pregnancy and birth.  In fact, less than half of women who have an unplanned birth are married by the time their child is 2 years old (an additional 17% are cohabiting).
    
4. Being in a serious relationship is a good reason to stop using birth control.
   People often get lax about contraception as a relationship gets more serious and feelings become more intimate.  But as the relationship heats up, it's time to be more careful, not less.  Remember, either abstaining from sex or using contraception each and every time you have sex is the best way to avoid an unplanned pregnancy.
      
5. Everybody's doing it.
   In fact, less than half (48%) of all high school student have ever had sex. Don't believe everything you hear. People lie, and exaggerate, and can talk a good game when it comes to sex. In the end, it doesn't matter who's telling the truth or not. The only truth that matters is what's best for you. Yeah, that sounds corny -- but it's true.
    
6. Because you've said "yes" once means you have to say "yes" every time.
   Just because you decided to have sex one time, or with one person, doesn't mean you have to have sex again, or with everyone.  Most teen girls (53%) and one-third of teen boys (33%) say they had mixed feelings about having sex the first time it happened.

I come to praise Sarah Palin, not to bury her. 

As part of her post-election media tour, Governor Palin appeared on CNN's Larry "Older Than Moses" King Show.  When asked about her pregnant teenage daughter Bristol,  Palin had this to say:

"You know, I looked at her and thought---and I thought, Bristol, honey, you're going to have to grow up really fast...She's going to make a great mom.  And she---she is very strong.  She's going to be just fine.   

But Bristol has an opportunity at this point also to reach out to other young American women and let them know that these are absolutely less than ideal circumstances that she or any other unwed teenage mother are in.  And it is not something to glamorize.  It's not something to condone, if you will.  Bristol has an opportunity to reach out to other young mothers and help them and, hopefully, not see such a prevalence, also, of unwed teenage mothers.  The rates are too high." 

Although we all might quibble with the exact language the Governor used --- and I'm sure most of us wish she had made this sort of statement earlier in the Campaign (see this op-ed from our friend Saul Hoffman) --- nonetheless, this strikes me as a strong and important statement from a leading R.

As a person of faith, I can't help but snicker every time something makes me remember how utterly confused God-fearing people get about issues of sex and pregnancy.  From "Jesus Camp" (a variation of which I proudly attended) to purity balls (which I proudly did NOT attend) to married people sex-a-thons, I count myself among the young people in this country who received mixed, and sometimes conflicting, messages about sex for the first 18 years of my life.

Margaret Talbot at The New Yorker sums up my childhood pretty well in her recent article, "Red Sex, Blue Sex."  Despite the discomfort that pious parents and their children experience when it comes to trying to understand their sexuality (and in some cases, trying to convince them that it's not even there until their wedding night), one strange phenomenon is that we are supposed to be excited when a baby results from this otherwise banned activity.

Laura Beil---a terrific reporter who has written repeatedly and skillfully about teen pregnancy and related issues---has a piece on abstinence education in the current issue of Newsweek.  

The piece delves into the abstinence education debate aplenty but it was the following passage that really captured my attention:

The vast majority of public-health experts, however, seldom discuss sex education and marriage in the same sentence. They gauge success by pregnancies prevented, germs not contracted, and kids who enter adulthood with a healthy view of sexuality. The public-health community views a wait-until-marriage message as blind to the world most teens inhabit. The average age of matrimony has steadily climbed, and is now past age 25. (Which is probably why 95 percent of Americans don't walk down the aisle as virgins.)

So what about it?  Should discussions of relationships and marriage have a more prominent role in sex education? Discuss  and decide.

Click the image for a non-Leo obstructed version of the Parade article

Parade is read by almost every living, breathing human being in the United States.  Or close to it.  Still, many of you may have been so distracted by the cover treatment on dishy Leonardo DiCaprio that you failed to note a story on teen pregnancy inside the magazine.

Specifically, the brief story highlights the recent increase in the teen birth rate and wonders why rates of early pregnancy and childbearing in the United States are so out of kilter compared to other countries.  The article also discusses the effectiveness of abstinence programs.

Take Action (Make your own whooping siren sound here and then explain to your colleagues, co-workers, friends and family why you are making such a ruckus.)  Parade is asking readers the following question: "Should abstinence-only sex ed continue?"  Let them know what you think by voting here.   The results of the online poll will be published in an upcoming issue of Parade.

Campaign CEO Sarah Brown and others guests appeared on NPR's Diane Rehm Show yesterday (CNN pooh bah and all-around-good-egg Frank Sesno was the guest host) for lively discussion of the state of sex education in the United States. 

The one-hour program also featured:

• Valerie Huber, executive director, National Abstinence Education Association
• Debra Hauser, executive vice president, Advocates for Youth
• Stan Weed, director and CEO, Institute for Research and Evaluation
• Douglas Kirby, senior research scientist, Education, Training and Research Associates

To listen in Real Audio move your mouse and click here.

To listen in Windows Media Player make that mouse click here.

Just published: A special issue of the journal Sexuality Research & Social Policy focusing on abstinence education.  Read all about it here.

Sue Johanson, the 78-year-old sex educator who (sadly) retired last May from her Oxygen television show, "Talk Sex with Sue Johanson," was interviewed this week on NPR's Wisdom Watch, where they ask respected elders to help guide us through today's challenging issues. In addition to noting that some of her assets as a sex educator are being "long in the tooth" and not having "bodacious ta ta's," she also said the following when asked her opinion about abstinence-only education:

Every, single sex educator does emphasize abstinence: 'Please do not have sex.' Now I will never say, 'not until you are married.' I will say, 'Please do not have sex until you know what you're doing, you like your own body, you can think ahead, plan ahead, get a good method of birth control, never let sex just happen, and be able to talk about it with your partner. That's the stumbling block right there. To be able to say to your partner, 'Are we gonna do it? 'Cause if we are, we're gonna use condoms, right? This is not a choice. No condom, no sex. That's it. Game over. Forget it.'

The Russell Brand/Jonas Brothers/Jordin Sparks dust-up sure is delicious, huh?  For those without a scorecard, the drama has unfolded something like this:

• Russell Brand hosted MTV's Video Music Awards last Sunday. (As an aside, am I the only person in the United States who has no idea who Russell Brand is?  I thought it was athletic wear.)  
• Brand saw fit to use his MTV bully pulpit to make fun of The Jonas Brothers—the tween heart-throb band de jour—and their rather public commitment to abstinence.  Among other pearls of wisdom, Brand said about the Jonas Brothers purity rings "I'd take them more seriously if they wore it around their genitals."
• American Idol winner Jordin Sparks also appeared on the VMA show and fired back at bad boy Brand:  "I just have one thing to say about promise rings.  It's not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody—guy or girls—wants to be a slut."
• Later in the show (aren't you sorry you missed it?) Brand apologized—kinda, sorta:  "I love the Jonas Brothers, I think it's (purity) really good.  I don't want to piss off teenage fans...Promise rings, I'm well up for it, well done everyone...It's just, a bit of sex occasionally never hurt anybody."

Ironically, one could reasonably view this as Hollywood's version of this nation's ongoing and tiresome debate about abstinence and contraception.  Too many continue to pit these two approaches as competing strategies when, of course, they are complimentary strategies. 

It may still feel like summer, but for many schools around the country, class is back in session. For most teens, the start of the new school year brings mixed feelings of excitement and dread. But for many teen mothers, the new school years also represents a whole new set of challenges. We asked our friend Taylor to share his experiences and tell us what's on his mind as he heads back to school.

For me, the phrase "back to school" brings mixed feelings of excitement and sorrow. Excitement because a brand new school term begins and sorrow because the laid-back attitude of summer draws to a bittersweet end. For many teen mothers though, that phrase typically means an additional demand on their time and patience, particularly if returning to school and/or working will be added to an already full agenda of raising a child.

In my school, I have seen these challenges first hand. For example, in my class last year there was a girl named Alicia. Alicia was a straight "A" student, a cheerleader, and one of the most popular girls in school. I didn't know her personally until this year, but shortly after school began we became friends. Around November, Alicia was only coming to school about once or twice a week and even then she would show up extremely late. To my surprise, she was pregnant and only told a select few. As the year went on, she struggled to balance her academic workload and extra-curricular activities with caring for her new child. As a result, she failed most of her second semester classes and was advised to attend summer school. Alicia couldn't go to summer school because she had to work in order to support her and her child.

The relationship between academic failure and teen parenthood is extremely strong because of the competing demands of school and the attention that a child requires. The stress of all this responsibility must be the main reason why only 40% of mothers who have children before the age of 18 actually graduate high school. Additionally, less than 2% of mothers under the age of 18 have a college degree by the age of 30. The added pressure on teen moms usually makes them choose between school or staying home with their baby. More times than not, staying home with their baby wins.

The odds don't fare well for their children either. Children of teen mothers do far worse in school compared to those born to older parents. These children are more likely to repeat a grade, less likely to complete high school, and have lower performances on standardized tests.

The impact that teen pregnancy has on schools and communities is phenomenal. While many corporations and programs are putting notebooks and pencils into book bags for students that are returning to school, maybe they need to add condoms and information about safe sex and abstinence, too.

Stay Out Loud is our monthly series featuring articles written by teen, for teens. Got something you want to say? Email your submissions and story ideas to stayteen@thenc.org.

A new website---Opposing Views---launched today with some fanfare.  The site bills itself as "real experts going head-to-head on issues you care about."  Well, I'm not sure anyone is interested in the tired old debate about abstinence education... but, if you simply can't get enough on this topic see what the National Campaign had to say here.

A new battle front in the culture wars has opened.  The issue is ICK -- in this case, some arguably salacious material in a sex ed curriculum. 

Here are a few thoughts: advocates on all sides of the sex ed battles have found sections in various curricula that they dislike.  As a general matter, the right dislikes sexually explicit content (the current flap) and the left routinely flags material that is medically inaccurate, homophobic and/or tied to religion.  It seems that almost anyone who sets foot into sex education offends at least someone.  It's tough terrain.    

So, what's a parent to do?  By all means review what your child's school plans to offer in sex ed 101.  If you find aspects of the curriculum that you don't like, consider having your child opt out of the class or perhaps just one session.  

But if you do so, keep in mind the following:

1. Some sex ed programs have been proven to help reduce the risk of teen pregnancy.  It is far better to have your child taught using an effective program than one lacking any evidence of good results.

2.  The overall popular culture that our children live in is very sexually explicit---and remember, it is on the watch of everyone reading this note that our culture has become what it is. Your children know and wonder about and hear tales of things that many of us old ones still don't get.  What makes you blush would hardly be noticed by the vast majority of teens.  Sorry.  It's the truth. 

3.  You are bound to find something that you do not agree with in any curriculum.  The question therefore is---on balance---does the curriculum seem right overall?  Does one disagreeable passage negate what might be 100 pages of positive material?  Analogy: Do you vote for a political candidate because you agree with him/her on every issue or just on most issues?

 4 . If you do remove your child from a class or curriculum, all that does is increase the burden on YOU to become a top flight sex educator.  Are you willing to do that?  To learn about the reality of teens' lives and the choices/pressures facing them, and then offer accurate, complete and compassionate advice?

Discuss.

It's like deja vu all over again at The New York Times.  For the second time in the past several weeks the grey lady is red in the face over virginity.  Today's entry: purity balls.  (See previous postings on the topic here and here.) 

Leaving aside everything else one might say about these father-daughter purity balls, I am left wondering--like so many others---where are the purity balls for fathers and their sons.  Don't these father-daughter gatherings underscore the sexual double standard still alive and still well---the double standard that tells young women to say "no" and young men to be "careful." 

Check out some polling data on this topic here (charts 5, 15, and 16)---65% of teens and 61% of parents of teens agree that parents send one message about sex to their sons and an altogether different message to their daughters.  Not too good.

Two events of interest taking place deep inside the Beltway this Wednesday:

1. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing Wednesday on abstinence education programs. 
2. The Brookings Institution is holding a gabfest (they are always interesting) with some thoughtful folks on the effects of media on young people and children.  The Future of Children Journal, "Children and Electronic Media," published by Brookings and Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, will be released at the event.

More in due course on both...

So, the New York Times has discovered virginity.  In the Sunday magazine article by Randall Patterson, we read about "ivy league virginity" (not to be confused with virginity among less well bred plants).  Question: would this article have been written about a virginity club at LSU or Ohio State?  Or is the core idea of this piece that people at Harvard should be too worldly wise--too smart!!!--to even consider restraint?  

Mind you, abstaining until marriage seems to be beyond rare; fewer than 5 percent of brides are virgins on their wedding day (silence reigns on the grooms, of course--nudge nudge, wink wink).  But is it really newsworthy  that a few young adults at Harvard and other exalted schools see room for taking sex and love a bit more seriously than so much of our culture suggests?  The "wait til marriage" message might be hard for some to stomach, of course, especially given the rising age of marriage and the increase in co-habitation.  But there is a moderate middle in all this.

The real club that I think we need is one that gives voice to a commonsense, centrist view -- that sex has risks and meaning along with real potential for intimacy, and that it belongs in committed relationships not one night stands.  What shall we call this new club at Harvard?  Any nominations?  And once it is formed, will the NYT write about it?