Warning Signs Predicting Teen Pregnancy

What Makes Some Teenagers At-Risk?

Nov 25, 2008

A new study has uncovered which girls are most likely to have sex prior to 15 years of age. If a teenage girl matches three or more factors listed, she is at risk.

At-Risk Factors

These are the top factors but there are more. Girls that have the additional risk factors are five times more likely to have sex before the age of 15.

Prevention of Teen Sexual Activity

The Wisconsin Study of Families and Work shows that parents do have an influence in teenage behaviors. Study authors Myeshia Price and Dr. Janet Hyde from the University of Wisconsin stated, "Preventive measures should not be left up to teachers and counselors alone, but might include parents. Positive influence from parents, coupled with comprehensive education programs, have the potential to have an unsurpassed effect on early adolescent sexual activity."

Explicit Television and Internet Sites

Teens are also seduced by revealing clothing and inappropriate behaviors by teen idols. Twelve-year-old music stars dress and behave as if they were 22. Teens want to be cool and emulate these same behaviors. Pornography is very easy to find on the Internet and many parents do not know how to lock out porn on their home computers. Many parents also do not bother to check the computer history to see if children have been to inappropriate sites. Premature exposure to sexual exploitation adds to the teen sex problem.

Hot Bed Parties

There is much pressure on girls and boys to participate in sexual activities to be in the popular crowd. Teens want to be invited to parties. When they arrive, there is often pressure to partake in sexual activities. Locally, an example of peer pressure is the Hot Bed Party. Teens arrive at a home where parents are gone for the evening. Each couple is sign up for a time on a sheet of paper for 15 minutes on a bed. Every 15 minutes, a new couple enters the bedroom for their time on the Hot Bed. Multiple partners are not uncommon and this is a perfect location for sexually transmitted diseases to occur. The CDC states that almost half of new cases of STDs were among teens.

Teen pregnancies are rising after dropping for more than a decade. Parents and schools can make a difference in turning this around.

Price MN & Hyde JS (2008). "When two isn't better than one: predictors of early sexual activity in adolescence using a cumulative risk model". Journal of Youth and Adolescence, DOI 10.1007/s10964-008-9351-2.

Springer Science+Business Media (2008, November 26). "Television: Not The Only Channel To Early Sex". according to ScienceDaily.

The copyright of the article Warning Signs Predicting Teen Pregnancy in Educational Issues is owned by Barbara Pytel. Permission to republish Warning Signs Predicting Teen Pregnancy in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Nov 26, 2008 7:49 AM

Guest :

Hot Bed Parties? I had no idea this was happening in teen circles. Good way to spread AIDS.

Nov 26, 2008 10:08 AM

Guest :

I can see this being the criteria. It fits. Do parents realize this?

Dec 1, 2008 7:39 AM

Guest :

At first I thought watching a lot of television was a strange fact. But, if kids are watching television a lot, they are probably bored because they are not doing their homework, not in sports, not in music and bored minds find alternative (and, often unhealthy) things to do. I would think that this list is probably a good predictor for using drugs and other at-risk behaviors.

Dec 1, 2008 12:39 PM

Guest :

While this is great information on an educational site, but shouldn't this also be on a parent's site? Parents need to take back some of their responsibilities.

Dec 2, 2008 9:11 AM

Guest :

I fully expected a few other things mentioned in this study. But, there is no mention of curfew, drinking, lack of supervision or provative dress. So, we're missing all the signs in schools. We aren't at home to supervise television time, not sure about self-esteem but could probably guess, not sure about relationship with parents. All we have is the low grades that pop out as clues. Teachers are at a disadvantage.

Dec 9, 2008 11:03 PM

Guest :

This is bull! I didnt loose my virginity until I was 17 and have adhd worst relationship with parents lived with aingle mom AND step dad watched tons of tv and failure in achademics you cant judge a person by their past and you sure as hell cant predict that they will become sexualy active just because of their flaws while growing up all this does it give parents more reason to deprive their children of simple pleasures and not letting them prepare themselves for the outside world

Dec 10, 2008 7:21 AM

Guest :

17? And this is something you are proud of? You could become pregnant in spite of using protection and you would become a statistic.

Feb 5, 2009 1:06 PM

Guest :

To the 17 year old:
Well you may feel this way, but why do act so hostel about all of these comments, it obviously arises a hurtful subject about your past?
I am 25 and lost my virginity when I was 19 to my boyfriend of three years. My parents were tough on me about tv, school and social settings. But, I am very happy that they looked out for me they way they did; because my friends from high school got pregnant at a young age, beat up and even rapped. I did not want that for them, and certianlly not for myself. You need to look around and see what the world is about and no one knows that better than your parents.

Feb 24, 2009 3:57 AM

Guest :

OKII...
heres the deal...
so what if yu watch loads of t.v, have low self esteemeand all that other rubbish,
thats just the person you are...
i doent have any effect on how old you will be when you lose your virginity...
I'm 15, and have only had sex once, and that was through rape, and was not really my choice.
you cannot then turn around to me and say that i was raped because i watched alot of T.V and have low self esteem, because rape isnt the victims fault. they didnt chose to ahve sex...
so its not really true what your saying because they may do all them things... and get raped but doesnt prove what you said... someone who doesnt do any of them things have just as much change of having sex through rape as poeple who do
thank you

Feb 25, 2009 8:22 AM

Guest :

The comment above is totally off the mark. This article says nothing about rape. Rape is not having sex. I think the article is very relevant to the topic it was meant to address.

Mar 23, 2009 8:27 AM

Guest :

i am a teen and only 14.ya some times i might see tv all day but that doesnt really mean anything.those signs are good examples for other kind of behaviors. i didnt know there was such a thing called hot bed. wow!!pretty intresting but i think parents should look more into what their teens are doing now days.