Research Paper
Research Paper
Research Paper
Danielle Class
April 6, 2022
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Introduction
According to the Center for Disease Control (2021), US teen birth rates have seen a
steady decline since 1991. Between 2018 and 2019, teen births per 1000 females decreased from
17.4 to 16.7 (Center for Disease Control, 2021). Although evidence supports that teen pregnancy
is continuing to decline, the reason for this change is unknown. Researchers have hypothesized
that factors including access to birth control, increase in abstinence from sexual intercourse, and
reform to sex education programming could be contributing to the decline. Significance of teen
pregnancy prevention remains a public health priority as it correlates with increased risks for
complications such as preterm birth and low birth weight according to the World Health
Organization (2020).
PICOT
This literature review was conducted to determine what factors influence teen pregnancy.
The following PICOT question was developed: “For adolescent females, does the
implementation of safe sex-centered education in schools reduce the risk of teen pregnancy
Methods
Using Maag library databases, three nursing-related databases were used such as
ProQuest, MedLine, and CINAHL. Criteria for selecting articles was that it needed to be in
English originally, peer-reviewed, in academic journals, and research papers. The literature also
needed to be published in the last five years to be considered. For the ProQuest database, the
initial search included “Teen Pregnancy” and “Comprehensive sex education” which yielded 56
results. For the CINHAL database the terms “comprehensive sex education” “teen pregnancy”
and “school nursing'' yielded 60 results. For the Medline database, the terms were “Sexual
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education” and “teen pregnancy” which yielded 156 results. Abstracts were reviewed to
determine if the articles related to sexual education and the impact on teen pregnancy. The
articles were selected by a review of abstracts and relevance to this topic. Eight articles were
Literature Review
After reviewing the eight articles there are three common themes. The themes include
after-school programs, and comprehensive sex education. There has been a focus on these
themes throughout the research on how it impacts pregnancy rates among adolescents. Each
theme was reviewed to determine if comprehensive sex education reduces teen pregnancy rates.
The role of policy on sexual health education has had an impact on the type of sex
had shown to be ineffective in decreasing teen pregnancy and STDs, federal funding continued to
support these programs primarily. Even though many states have favored AOE compared to
comprehensive sex education (CSE) in schools, CSE programs had shown the potential to
decrease the prevalence of teen pregnancy and even delay the initiation of sex to later years.
While sexual health education has evolved over the last 50 years, there had been
controversy regarding the growth rates of teen pregnancy despite the policies set in place by
schools. The biggest setback occurred in the 1980s due to the HIV epidemic. The promotion and
expansion of CSE halted in the 1980s in response to the HIV epidemic and efforts of the
religious right (Huber & Firmin, 2014). The legislation was enacted encouraging states to discard
CSE and adopt AOE (Carr & Packham, 2017). In 1981, the Adolescent Family Life Act was
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passed with the primary goal to promote chastity and self-discipline; in 1996, the welfare reform
law enacted Title V of the Social Security Act that provided grants to states that adopted AOE
and its tenets (Lerner & Hawkins, 2016). The succession of these events acted as the promotion
of AOE rather than CSE curricula in schools across the U.S., all stemming from the HIV
epidemic. The problem arose when leading health organizations and experts were promoting
CSE while schools and policy reform continued to support AOE education.
To assess the efficacy of these programs, three studies have been conducted. These
studies focused on abortion or teen birth rates to determine a difference in outcomes between
states that offered AOE and CSE curricula. Although a majority of the outcomes from these
studies reflected no statistical difference in teen birth or abortion rates between states, another
study reviewed a drastic increase in STIs after the change back to AOE programs in schools.
This is due to the lack of education provided in CSE or the belief that condoms work, which
proved to be a major factor leading to unintended pregnancies. These studies also revealed that
teen pregnancy and STI rates are higher in states that mandate an emphasis on AOE.
In a study analyzing the correlation between AOE funding and teen birth rates by state
from 1998 to 2016, researchers found that, overall, AOE had no effect on the incidence of teen
pregnancy (Fox, et al., 2019). The study further distinguished how AOE programs affected states
in correlation to the state’s political ideologies and whether or not CSE was offered alongside
AOE. In conservative states, which had significantly higher teen birth rates compared to
moderate and liberal states, AOE proved to be counterproductive in lowering birth rates when no
CSE was instituted in addition. The conclusion was that promoting abstinence to teens without
also teaching about contraceptive use had a negative effect on efforts to reduce teen pregnancy.
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Not only had AOE programs been ineffective at preventing teen pregnancy, but left
students feeling publicly shamed through fear-inducing tactics and refusals to answer the
questions that students ask about sex and pregnancy. The University of Texas set out to collect
stories from college-age students who had gone through some type of AOE program while in
high school (Hoefer & Hoefer, 2017). Sixteen students were interviewed during the study and
asked to recall personal experiences in an AOE program and reflect on the impact the curriculum
had on individual views of sex. One student shared that the teacher used the analogy of a “fish
out of water” to describe what pregnancy in high school would be like (Hoefer & Hoefer, 2017,
p. 269). Five of the sixteen students interviewed in the study remembered instances where
educators refused to answer a question that had been asked in class. When the students were
denied answers, interviewees explained that the instructors did so “in a way that publicly shamed
the student for daring to ask such a question by implying that the question was too inappropriate
Evidence from this study had shown that the fear tactics and lack of clarity offered to
students through AOE programs could be contributing factors to why the curriculum is
School nurses have been a resource for healthcare and health education in schools
throughout the U.S. Along with this role, school nurses are also a source of support and
confidentiality for teens in regard to STDs and unintended pregnancies. School nurse
involvement in sex education including condom availability and use, has been crucial in
decreasing STIs and unintended pregnancies when applied in school curricula. Although, this
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component involving school nurses as having a role in condom access has been in part
overlooked.
After-school programs have had an active role in the education of adolescents who
after-school programs had been beneficial in the reduction of sexual behavior while being able to
provide safe sex education (Bogan et al., 2020). A sample had been conducted to evaluate sexual
behaviors among adolescents compared in three different states. Adolescents who had
participated in sexual behaviors prior to thirteen years of age in Mississippi was 8.3%, in New
Hampshire was 2.0% and the United States as a whole was 3.9%. The study had been measured
by the collection of data representing statistics of teen birth rates per 1000 births. Both young
boys and young girls were assigned to participate in an educational program. “Be a Responsible
Teen” (BART) was an educational program created to lower sexually transmitted diseases, lower
meeting one time for a total of two hours to discuss topics that consisted of HIV and acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) which occur with unsafe sexual behavior or met once a
week for a total of eight weeks to attend the BART course. The results from the study had shown
that individuals who attended the BART program had lowered sexual activity and were already
sexually active. Individuals who had participated in the BART program also had been detained
from beginning sexual activity altogether (Bogan et al., 2020). Overall, the study suggested that
there be more of a focus on reducing sexual activity during after-school hours compared to being
A study was conducted to determine whether students felt sexual education was adequate.
The study was titled “Perceptions of a School-Based Sexuality Education curriculum: Findings
from Focus Groups with Parents and Teens in a Southern State.” The study surveyed four
schools in Arkansas that had high teen pregnancy and STI rates. In those four schools, the
researchers surveyed parents and students about the quality of comprehensive sex education
(CSE) (Marshal et al., 2020). One of the main themes of the study was that “sex education
should be comprehensive and is currently inadequate” (Marshal et al., 2020, p. 37). These
schools with high teen pregnancy rates had some form of CSE but it was not comprehensive
According to the study, “Both parents and students desired a comprehensive curriculum
including contraception, STI, and pregnancy prevention” (Marshal et al., 2020, p. 40). Many of
the students felt that topics such as pregnancy and STIs needed to be covered more extensively.
The conclusion from this study was that the quality of CSE in these schools was poor and did not
cover enough material. Many students in the study felt as though there was not enough education
being taught to make healthy decisions about sexual health and relationships (Marshal et al.,
2020, p. 46). The main recommendations from this research were to use evidence-based CSE on
a variety of sexual health-related topics to provide better quality information to the students
decreasing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections among adolescents. The research
District,” looked at high-risk sex behaviors, such as no condom usage at Niagara Falls High
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School when there was sexual education and three years after the implementation of a CSE
program (Hall, 2020). The study was conducted in this school district due to high rates of risky
sexual behavior according to the research. “In 2015, among Niagara Falls High School students
who reported having had sex, 55.4% had sex before the age of 14, 37% did not use a condom,
12.3% did not use any pregnancy prevention method, 16.6% used alcohol and/or drugs during
last sexual intercourse, and 47.3% have had more than three partners in their lifetime” (Hall,
2020, pg. 1) This information was taken before implementation of a CSE program.
The study was conducted by survey over the course of 2015-2019. The results were a
decrease in students who have had more than three sexual partners and a decrease in engaging in
sexual activity early in life, while there was still an increase in students not using condoms and
pregnancy prevention. The researchers noted that the study could be improved by considering
demographic characteristics and other factors impacting safe sexual behavior. Overall, the study
concluded that “Evidence shows that a CSE program has positive effects on knowledge, skills,
and efficacy” (Hall, 2020, p. 2). Another point discussed was that these programs do not
eliminate unhealthy sex practices from occurring among youth, but do provide evidence-based
A research study was conducted to evaluate research that compared how sexual education
taught by teachers in public schools helped teachers understand how to educate adolescents
about sexual encounters in addition to the effects of advising students about sexual awareness
(Ramírez et al., 2021). The sample included teachers and adolescents within grade schools of
second and third grade in Morelos, Mexico that were measured to evaluate the sexual education
program, CSE. Two teachers that were in second and third grade who taught sexual education
within public schools were chosen out of a total of 45 randomly selected schools. N=693 were
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students who had completed the CSE program while N=738 were adolescents who had received
twenty-two questions that focused on teenage pregnancy and contraceptive usage. The
questionnaire results were evaluated on a 10 point scale with each person’s score multiplied by
ten points and divided by the number of questions which equaled twenty-two questions. The
adolescents that scored between 0-and 5 had scored unacceptable while adolescents that scored 8
or greater had an excellent score. (Ramírez et al., 2021). The results represented eighty-nine
teachers that took part in the CSE program with 36% being women who averaged 49 years old
while 63% of the other women averaged 40-59 years old. The teachers that participated in the
CSE program had an increase of 0.9 points based on multiple factors. The teachers received
better knowledge in understanding pregnancy among adolescents and contraceptive usage and
methods. Overall, the study suggested that teachers who had received CSE training understood
sexual education better. The study also suggested that students' sexual behaviors had decreased
as well. Further studies indicated that teachers must be better prepared as sexual educators for
Based on the literature reviewed there is a recommendation for CSE in schools. The
evidence throughout the review is strong that AOE education is not as effective at preventing
teen pregnancy as CSE. Good quality CSE needs to be implemented in schools to prevent teen
pregnancy. The recommendation could also be more school nurse involvement in providing
condoms and education to adolescents. The literature reviewed also emphasizes the need for
after-school programs such as the BART program to reduce the onset of sexual activity in
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addition to halting the continuation of sexual activity in adolescents. The recommendation could
also focus more on how to prevent sexual activity beyond normal school hours.
Conclusion
The three major themes among the eight literature articles reviewed were abstinence-only
programs, and comprehensive sex education. The literature showed that AOE is known to be
ineffective at preventing teen pregnancy while good quality CSE has had positive impacts on
preventing teen pregnancy. CSE also benefits from after-school programs and school nurse
pregnancy prevention has shown a decline with the inclusion of sexual education programs.
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References
Bogan, D. R., Aranmolate, R., & Mawson, A. R. (2020). Confronting the impact of teen
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2017-0210
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, November 15). About teen pregnancy.
Fox, A. M., M.A., Himmelstein, G., B.A., Khalid, Hina, M.P.P., & Howell, Elizabeth A,M.D.,
prevention: Does state ideology affect outcomes? American Journal of Public Health,
urban school district. Available from Nursing & Allied Health Premium. Retrieved from
https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/comprehensive-sexual-education-compari
son-study/docview/2466049127/se-2?accountid=29141
Hoefer, S. E., & Hoefer, R. (2017). Worth the wait? the consequences of abstinence-only sex
257–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2017.1359802
Marshall, S. A., Hudson, H. K., & Stigar, L. V. (2020). Perceptions of a school-based sexuality
education curriculum: Findings from focus groups with parents and teens in a southern
Rabbitte, M., & Enriquez, M. (2019). The role of policy on sexual health education in schools:
https://doi.org/10.1177/1059840518789240
Smith, S., Platt, J. M., Clifford, D., Preston, M., Satterwhite, C., Kelly, P. J., & Ramaswamy, M.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1059840518824728
World Health Organization. (2020, January 30). Adolescent pregnancy. World Health
Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy