Psychology

Teenage pregnancy is a concern of the society because of the increasing number of teenage mothers and the impact it has on the society. According to Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus ( ), the statistics from www.guttmacher.org demonstrates an estimated birth of half a million from teenage mothers alone per year. In addition to this,  of a million, or roughly 250,000 pregnancies, lead to abortions (Rathus, Nevid,  Fichner-Rathus, ). Among the interventions proposed include artificial and natural methods of contraception. Prevention through sexuality programs for teens is also included in the list but has deserved critics because of questions related to its effectiveness. It is seen that it is not as effective as the other methods because of its loopholes and failures.

The function of sexuality-related programs, especially those implemented in schools, can be anywhere in between the range of encouragement and information dissemination (Rathus, Nevid,  Fichner-Rathus, ). By encouragement, the programs are able to pressure and influence the teenagers to abstain from having sex or say not to it. On the other hand, it can also be as shallow as providing information regarding the available methods of contraception. In a research paper done by Card (1999), it is argued that sexuality programs, with the aim of preventing unwanted pregnancy and STI among teens, do not occupy the entire seat for successful prevention but forms only a part of the multiple approaches that can be used for addressing the problem. Moreover, the problem, as Card (1999) argues, can only be seen through the eyes of the teenagers themselves and that they form a part of the programs solution. The study of Kirby, Short, Collins, Rugg, Kolbe, Howard, Miller, Sonenstein, and Zabin (1994) supports the idea that there are only specific programs that prove to be successful in delaying the engagement of adolescents in sexual intercourse, decrease the frequency and number of sexual partners, or increase the use of contraceptives among the adolescents.