ABSTRACT

Although statistics on sexual behavior do not summarize adolescent sexuality, they do confirm that many adolescents initiate sexual activity during a developmental stage characterized by risk-taking behavior and a propensity to act without a full sense of the potential consequence of their actions. The United States continues to have an alarmingly high rate of teenage

pregnancies and a concurrent increase in youth infected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 1991, the pregnancy rate for females ages 15 to 19 was nearly twice that of Great Britain, which had the second-highest rate (Lawton, 1995). Each year in the United States, 800,000 to 900,000 adolescents aged 19 years or younger become pregnant. Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing have been associated with adverse health and social consequences for young women and their children. The CDC (2001) presents estimated national and state-specific pregnancy rates for adolescents aged 19 years or younger from 1995 to 1997. The findings indicate a decline in national and state-specific adolescent pregnancy rates during 1985 to 1987 and a continuing downward trend beginning in the early 1990s (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2001).