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The recent increase into teen births appears to be primarily the result of a decrease during contraceptive use, especially condoms, according to new research out today.
After declining for 14 years, the teen birth rate increased in 2006 and then again into 2007, causing alarm that one of the nation's most successful public health campaigns was faltering.
In an effort to understand why the teen birth rate is creeping up again, John Santelli of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and his colleagues analyzed data collected by the federal government's Youth Risk Behavior Survey from young women nationwide into grades 9 through 12.
In an article being published in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, Santelli with his colleagues report that the increase does not appear to be the result of a rise into sexual activity. Although teen sexual activity might have risen slightly between 2001 and 2003, it appears to have remained fairly flat since then, the researchers found.
Instead, the researchers found that there appears to have been a subtle decrease in contraceptive use, including a slight increase here the use of the withdrawal method and the proportion of teens reporting no contraceptive use. But perhaps most importantly there was a small but significant drop in condom use, which fell from about 57 percent to about 55 percent from 2003 to 2007.
The study did not examine why these trends occurred. But Santelli says it could be due to a number of factors, including rising complacency about the AIDS epidemic with safe sex to protect against HIV. But Santelli also says the recent increased focus on encouraging kids to remain abstinent until marriage instead of teaching them about contraceptive may also be at least partly to blame.
Now, that's highly controversial, also disputed by advocates of sex education programs that focus on abstinence. But the Obama administration recently announced plans to cut funding for such programs and only fund those that have been proven to work.
After declining for 14 years, the teen birth rate increased in 2006 and then again into 2007, causing alarm that one of the nation's most successful public health campaigns was faltering.
In an effort to understand why the teen birth rate is creeping up again, John Santelli of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and his colleagues analyzed data collected by the federal government's Youth Risk Behavior Survey from young women nationwide into grades 9 through 12.
In an article being published in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, Santelli with his colleagues report that the increase does not appear to be the result of a rise into sexual activity. Although teen sexual activity might have risen slightly between 2001 and 2003, it appears to have remained fairly flat since then, the researchers found.
Instead, the researchers found that there appears to have been a subtle decrease in contraceptive use, including a slight increase here the use of the withdrawal method and the proportion of teens reporting no contraceptive use. But perhaps most importantly there was a small but significant drop in condom use, which fell from about 57 percent to about 55 percent from 2003 to 2007.
The study did not examine why these trends occurred. But Santelli says it could be due to a number of factors, including rising complacency about the AIDS epidemic with safe sex to protect against HIV. But Santelli also says the recent increased focus on encouraging kids to remain abstinent until marriage instead of teaching them about contraceptive may also be at least partly to blame.
Now, that's highly controversial, also disputed by advocates of sex education programs that focus on abstinence. But the Obama administration recently announced plans to cut funding for such programs and only fund those that have been proven to work.
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