Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy

Adolescent pregnancy can reduce girls' opportunities for a rewarding future. A number of risk reduction programs have been launched with the goal of reducing this behavior.

We are examining Girls, Inc., an adolescent pregnancy prevention program, and working with school-based and center-based programs to identify girls between age 12 and 14 when they apply to the program. We randomly assigned over 800 girls to the Girls, Inc. program, or to a control group, and are following the girls for five years. A baseline survey and three follow-up surveys will measure the girls’ knowledge and attitudes about sexuality, sexual activity, and other risk-taking behaviors; contraception; and pregnancy status. In addition, to understand program operations, we are conducting focus groups with girls in the programs, performing structured program observations, and interviewing program staff. The results of this evaluation will yield definitive findings on the outcomes of pregnancy prevention programs in the context of other youth development activities. This study, scheduled for completion in 2009, is one of the only long-term, controlled studies of adolescent pregnancy prevention. The study is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Turner Foundation, Inc.; Annie E. Casey Foundation; and Smith Richardson Foundation.

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