BIRTH CONTROL FOR TEENAGERS

The delivery of birth control information to teenagers and making contraceptive devices or preparations accessible to teenagers are two related and equally controversial issues in the United States in the 1990s. The increasing prevalence of both teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among teenagers, however, exerts an impact on the practice of nursing regardless of how controversial the issues may be. This research reviews the problems associated with unprotected sexual activity among teenagers as well as the attitudes of teenagers toward the use of condoms, as a means of illustrating the impact of these phenomena on the practice of nursing.

Prevalence of and Problems Associated With Unprotected Sexual Activity By Teenagers

Adolescent pregnancy continues to be one of the most challenging public health issues in the United States (Jaskiewicz and McAnarney, 1994, p. 32). Annually, more than one-million teenagers in the United States become pregnant, and one-half of these teenagers give birth (Stevens-Simon, 1992, p. 295). Of the remaining 50 percent, from three- to four fifths obtain therapeutic abortions, while the remainder abort spontaneously (Stevens-Simon, 1992, p. 295). The highest incidence of adolescent pregnancies in the United States is among African

Americans (Tennyson, 1991, p. 11).

A variety of causal factors are implicated in teenage pregnancy. Pregnancy often indu

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education (Klerman, 1993, pp. 553-561). A failure in family interpersonal communications appears to be a significant causal factor in the incidence of teenage pregnancy (Tennyson, 1991, p. 86). Demetriou and Kaplan (1989, pp. 1176-1182) found that poor interpersonal communications within family systems frequently contributed to the occurrence of teenaged pregnancies because teenaged girls either could not get or were afraid to ask for the information that would have prepared them to better avoid such an outcome. Poor interpersonal communications within family systems leads to situations wherein the personal values of a teenaged girl are not aligned with family values (Warren, 1992, pp. 121-136; Markland and Vincent, 1990, pp. 35-48). Poor interpersonal communications within family systems also leads to situations wherein teenaged pregnancies are resolved in ways that are least beneficial to both the teenaged girl and the children of teenaged mothers, as birth is selected over abortion (Fielding and Williams, 1991, pp. 47-52), and as keeping the child is selected over adoption (Custer, 1993, pp. 891-901). Attitudes of Teenagers Toward Condom Use Changes in the character of HIV (human immuno virus) transmission and AIDS (acquire
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Approximate Word count = 2394
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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