ABSTRACT
Teenage pregnancy has been identified as a major source of social, ethical and financial concern in most industrialised countries. The problem has been described as an epidemic by many, and its onset has been invariably attributed to the ‘sexual revolution of the sixties’. An increased freedom extant from the proliferation of two-income families, the attendant increase in parental divorce/separation often leading to single parent families, the glorification in the mass media of unchecked sexuality, peer pressure, hormonally induced rebelliousness and, paradoxically, the availability of safe, easy birth control and abortion, have all been described at one time or another as the root cause of this problem (Romig and Thompson, 1988; Behavior Today, 1990; Chilman, 1990; Dusek, 1991; Rodriquez and Moore, 1995). More recently, the failure to impart ‘adequate sexual education’, and the low expectations for the future of teenagers in light of diminishing opportunities, have also been cited (The Social Exclusion Unit, 1999).
