Citation

Males MA. Lancet 1995; 346(8967): 64-65.

Affiliation

School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7603210

Abstract

Many of the proposed counter measures to US teenage pregnancy, childbearing, and sexually transmitted diseases center on sex and abstinence education. A tabulation by the California Center for Health Statistics of 46,511 marital and unwed births among school-age girls in 1993 showed that only 29% were fathered by school-age peers 10-18 years old; 71%, or over 33,000, were fathered by adult post high-school men whose mean age was 22.6 years. Even among junior high school mothers 15 and younger, most births are fathered by adult men 6-7 years their senior. Studies of 535 pregnant and parenting teenagers (mostly Whites) by researchers in Washington state and of 445 teenage mothers (most nonWhites) in Chicago found that large majorities had histories of rapes and sexual abuse before age 12, inflicted mainly by adults who were at least 5-10 years older than their early adolescent girlfriends. 40% of US girls live near or below poverty income levels, and this low-income population accounts for 6 out of 7 teenage births. US teenage pregnancy rates are 3-10 times higher than those found among industrial nations of western Europe, but poverty rates among US youth are also higher by a similar magnitude. The sexual abuse and rape of young girls, pregnancy during adolescent years, and abandonment of women to raise or support children are, overwhelmingly, adult male behavior problems exacerbated by poverty. The claim that superficial pregnancy prevention programs emphasizing abstinence and contraceptive techniques can persuade young teenagers to enforce abstinence or contraception on their older adult partners is dubious. US prevention campaigns are likely to succeed only when they limit the emphasis on youth-targeted campaigns, condescending attitudes, and punitive approaches, and forcefully confront the excessive economic attrition inflicted on US youth, and the thoroughly integrated nature of sexual behaviors among adolescents and adults.

Language: en