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Social work has seen tremendous growth since its beginnings more than a century ago. An issue that continues to draw attention in child welfare is teen pregnancy. While the issue of teen pregnancy is not new to social work, having education on the issues that pregnant teenagers go through, and having these vulnerable clients served with competent social workers has not kept pace with progress made in other areas of social work. The purpose of this study is to understand and improve the issues that pregnant and parenting teens face and bring attention to teen pregnancy in an attempt to develop curriculum in the classroom to educate future social workers on teen pregnancy. The research utilized a quantitative questionnaire, once collected the data will be entered through SPSS to obtain statistical analysis for teen pregnancy. The participants were be undergraduates and graduate social work students at University X. The results of the research and data will be used to illustrate areas where curriculum can be developed to assist social work students in the improving education and resources for teenage pregnancy

This thesis explores theories of postfeminism and discourses of “can-do” and “at-risk” girlhood as they are enacted in MTV’s teen pregnancy franchise, which I define as including 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, and Teen Mom 2. Specifically, this project examines how MTV frames the young mothers featured across this franchise as what I label “postfeminist failures.” Within its teen pregnancy programming, MTV exploits the shortcomings of the featured teen mothers. These failures include broken relationships, prison sentences, and subsequent pregnancy scares and pregnancies. Furthermore, these failures all stem from the teen mothers’ initial failure to adequately manage her sexuality, as evidenced by getting pregnant at age sixteen. These failures constitute much of the plot of MTV’s docu-dramatic series and have also spilled over into paratexts related to MTV’s franchise. I contest in this thesis that the rhetoric of postfeminist failure, first articulated and exploited in 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, and Teen Mom 2, is then reproduced in the franchise’s paratextual materials. These paratexts range from reunion shows hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky to tabloid magazine coverage. I also interrogate the celebrity status of MTV’s featured teen mothers, especially those on Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2, and problematize publicity and fame rooted in the failure of these girls to adhere to normative standards of postfeminist womanhood. MTV’s teen pregnancy franchise is categorized as reality television, a genre derided by many scholars as lowbrow and devoid of substance. In order to combat these assumptions about reality television, particularly because this teen pregnancy franchise is promoted as educational for its audience, MTV has fostered strategic partnerships with The Kaiser Family Foundation’s “It’s Your (Sex) Life Campaign” and The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Through these partnerships, MTV has infused its reality content with pathways to information-rich websites about contraceptives and pregnancy prevention sponsored by each non-profit. Through analyzing these partnerships and cultural discourses surrounding teen pregnancy, I question the assumption by many proponents and critics of the franchise that the content must either be educational for its viewers or purely entertaining programming. / text

The purpose of this study is to examine the problems that pregnant teenagers encounter at school and at home while they are trying to complete their high school education. Data were collected by in-depth interviews. Twenty pregnant adolescents, who were between the ages of 15 through 18, and were participants in a special teen pregnancy program were interviewed. The major findings in this study included the respondents': 1) unstable family life histories, 2) denial that they were pregnant, 3) need for self-identity as an adult, 4) conflict with parents and 5) motivation to complete their high school education. This study points to the need for more research on the problems that pregnant adolescents encounter in their everyday lives.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine if regular volunteering during adolescence was associated with a delay in first pregnancy until adulthood. Method: Data for this analysis were drawn from Wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Logistic regression was used, controlling for demographic characteristics and pregnancy intention, to estimate the independent contribution of volunteering during adolescence to a delay in first pregnancy until after age 18. Results: One-third of respondents reported regularly volunteering during adolescence. Volunteering significantly differed among those who had a teen pregnancy compared to those who delayed pregnancy until adulthood (chi-square 6.52, p-value 0.012). In the adjusted analysis, respondents who reported regularly volunteering during adolescence were nearly 60% more likely to delay their first pregnancy until adulthood compared to those who did not volunteer. Conclusions: This analysis is the only one known to have examined volunteering alone, not as part of a multiple component prevention program. Its findings suggest that incorporating volunteering opportunities may make pregnancy prevention programs more successful. In addition, increasing the number of the kinds of volunteering opportunities that are already available may confer some protection against adolescent pregnancy.

This review of sexual education in the United States broadly defines the two most common approaches in sexual education seen in this country today. I cover the status of certain sexual behaviors and risks amongst the teenage population in the U.S. and specifically cover reported sexual activity in high school students and overall data on teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This work specifically looks at Maine, California, Texas, Maryland, North Carolina, and New Mexico to highlight the variety of state policies concerning sexual education and the differences in teenage sexual behaviors that exist within each of those six states. A description of how cultural influences can affect a young person’s sexual behavior is also given. In the final discussion section of this paper I have emphasized the need for more comprehensive sexual education programs in the United States and the importance of providing culturally sensitive programs in order to continue the fight against teenage pregnancy and STI rates in adolescents.

Teenage girls in foster care are estimated to have pregnancy rates that are roughly 20% higher than the national average. However, most research on the sexual health of foster youth has used small, non-representative samples of foster youth. This study examined both sexual activity and pregnancy among maltreated youth referred to child welfare systems using data from the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-being, the first nationally representative sample of youth who come into contact with the child welfare system. Three separate analyses were conducted to answer the overall question, ‘how does foster care impact sexual activity and pregnancy for maltreated youth?’ Descriptive statistics, multinomial regression and hierarchal generalized linear modeling were used to address separate research aims to understand foster care’s impact on sexual activity and pregnancy. Results suggest that there are few differences between maltreated youth who enter foster care and those who do not enter foster care. Additionally, foster care does not appear to impact rates of sexual activity or pregnancy for maltreated youth. Rather, problems in the family of origin and maltreatment the child had experienced appear to influence both sexual activity and pregnancy. / text

Unintended pregnancy remains to be a public health priority for adolescents as there are a myriad of negative social and developmental consequences for both young mothers and their children. The goal of this study was to examine associations of individual-level determinants of health with sexual risk behaviors and protective factors among a sample of African American female adolescents. African American adolescent females were recruited from sexual health clinics to participate in a cross-sectional survey at 18 months post-participation in a STD/HIV prevention trial. Surveys were administered using Audio Computer Assisted Self Interview (ACASI). Statistical analyses were run to determine associations of protective and sexual risk behaviors with age, education, household income status, sexual history, other contraception use and knowledge of emergency contraception (EC). A total of 410 surveys were included in the analyses. (N=410; mean age=19.06) Almost sixteen percent (n=65) of participants reported ever using emergency contraception. Bivariate analyses indicated that EC use among African American female adolescents was significantly associated with age, education level, job status, receipt of government assistance, age at first sex, knowledge of EC availability and number of average condom errors. The findings in this study are consistent with previous studies exploring social determinants and their relationship to sexual health practices among high risk populations. The findings of this study could be used to design effective pregnancy prevention initiatives including EC education and promotion targeting specific segments of the African American adolescent female population that may be at a greater risk for unintended pregnancies.

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