Teenage Girls Attitudes on Sex and Pregnancy

I am old enough that I remember the huge uproar that happened when television’s “Murphy Brown” became a single mother. I wasn’t old enough to see the big deal because I was still in high school and I knew a number of girls who already had babies and seemed to be doing okay being single moms. I also wasn’t a mom myself so I had no frame of reference. I can distinctly remember thinking, “Raising a baby alone? How hard could that really be?” I say this now and am slowly realizing how I have forced my husband to go out and get groceries we do not really need so that he could take the kids and I could have 45 minutes of peace to write and actually have a teensy weensy bit of peace….and a margarita. According to a recent government survey, these days more and more teenagers are feeling it is okay for a single mom to have a baby. Thinking back to my own mindset almost twenty years ago, it makes some sense to me.

Results from the survey show that teenage girls have admitted to using the rhythm method (knowing one’s days of fertility and avoiding sex on those days) for birth control as opposed to other birth control alternatives like condoms or birth control pills. These results may provide an explanation as to why the teenage pregnancy rate has ceased to decline. Generally, however, results from this recent survey matched up to results from a similar survey done almost ten years ago. This survey was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and had a few differences with the survey done in 2002. For example, approximately 17% of teenage girls admitted to regularly using the rhythm method as a means of birth control. That number is up about 11% from the survey done in 2002.

While these girls who admitted to using the rhythm method may also have used other forms of contraception at the time, the fact that teenaged girls are relying on this method makes for some very worried parents and researchers. According to Joyce Abma, the lead author of the report, the rhythm method is only effective about 75% of the time.
The survey had close to 3,000 female participants between the ages of 15 and 19. All participants were interviewed in their homes and the survey spanned from 2006 to 2008. Results showed that over 40% of these girls who had never been married had at least one sexual encounter in their lives. Of this 40%, approximately 98% of them stated they used a method of birth control at least one time; the most popular choice of contraception was condoms.

Some researchers feel that the fact that so many teenaged girls admitted to using the rhythm method as a form of birth control may be directly related to the fluctuating teenage birth rates. A spokesperson from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Bill Albert, stated, “We’ve known the decline in childbearing stalled out. This report kind of fills in the why.” The report also suggests that teenaged girls attitudes about pregnancy and sex may also be a large reason as to why the birth rate is fluctuating. For instance, close to 65% of teenaged boys felt it was okay for an unwed girl to have a baby. Close to 70% of teenaged girls agreed with this sentiment.