RESPONSIBLE SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN TEENAGERS

Responsible Sexual Behavior in Teenagers

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background of the Study

Douglas County, like many other counties in Georgia, is experiencing a steady increase in teen pregnancies and teens engaging in premarital sexual activities. According to The Georgia Vital statistics report, in 2002, the population of females between the ages of 14-17 in Douglas County was approximately 7,346. Of that number, an estimated 1,673 gave birth to children out of wedlock. These statistics indicate that in Douglas County, approximately 234 out of every 1,000 unmarried teens between the ages of 14-17 became unwed mothers. Furthermore, the Pregnancy Resource Center of Douglas County reports, that in 2003, 1,150 pregnancy tests were administered by their organization. This is just an example of how much responsible sexual behavior are teenagers having in USA.

Teenagers received 336 of those tests. Increases of 273 additional tests were given to teens 14-17 in 2003 than the previous year. This paper will serve to investigate if it is plausible that a countywide holistic abstinence education program, which collaborates with other agencies in the county to offer alternative activities as well as abstinence education, would have helped to reduce the pregnancy rate among teenaged girls in the county during that period.

Statement of the Research Problem

The purpose of this study is to determine the level of knowledge of emergency contraception among 14 and 15 year olds, accounted for the increase in pregnancy rate among teenaged girls between 14- 17 years of age during 2002 and 2003.

Aim of the Research

The aim of the research is to find out the emergency contraception; of its safety, efficacy, and time limits; and of where to obtain it and the role of Practice Nurses APN in it.

Statement of limitations

As this study would be concluded using a limited sample from the entire population, therefore, we assume that the provided sample would provide us with an unbiased overview of the entire population and therefore our analysis and study conducted on the sample would be applicable on the entire population. The answers obtained from the target audience are assumed 100% correct (however, many teenagers tend to lie about their true feelings and effectiveness of abstinence programs).

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The safe sex approach, which advocates contraceptive use, has led teenagers to believe that using contraceptives makes engaging in sexual intercourse a safe behavior ("Sexual Health Update," 2000). Medical evidence indicates that abstinence is the only reliable choice for avoiding pregnancy.

In an article that compared the effectiveness of school-based health clinics that distributed birth control and schools that have abstinence programs, evidence showed that abstinence programs were the most effective technique for preventing adolescent sexual activity and pregnancies (Khouzem, 2003). Khouzem cited one study, in particular, that was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and conducted by the Institute for Research and Evaluation. The study included almost 7,000 teenagers in grades 7 through 10 who were taught a values-based ...