Communication skills to help adolescents prevent pregnancy (initial study)
Funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Scientist(s):
John Noell, PhD
,
Dennis Ary, PhD
Teen pregnancies are associated with many societal problems, including child abuse, poverty, unemployment, and substance abuse. Adolescents are engaging in intercourse at increasingly younger ages. Many teens who get pregnant explain that sex "just happened" and often don’t recognize that they had in fact made a series of choices, consciously or not, before they got to the point of unprotected intercourse.
Teen Choices: Avoiding Pregnancy is an interactive intervention using a story-format to illustrate the social and communication skills teens can use to stop a sexual interchange or bring up the subject of protection (condoms). The story follows a young couple on a date. Shortly after they arrive home they begin to feel the pressure to become physically intimate. At choice points during the course of the evening—such as the beginning of kissing or turning out the lights—each of the characters wonders if he or she should bring up the topic of abstinence or protection. Viewers make choices and view the consequences. (Taking into consideration all choice points, there are seven different "endings" to the story.) Unwise choices result in negative consequences (e.g., becoming pregnant and a very dramatic, high anxiety blow-up between the couple). Wise choices result in positive consequences and model ways a couple might discuss the issues of abstention and protection. Thought-provoking discussion prompts appear at the end of each story/consequence.
One hundred ten high school students evaluated the program as part of their health class curriculum. Before the lesson they all answered a series of questions regarding their beliefs, attitudes, and intentions concerning abstinence and communication with a partner. (Because of school regulations, it was not possible to ask about sexual history or use of contraception.) After viewing the program, the students answered the same set of questions and made significant improvements. For instance, they were much more confident that they could remain abstinent until marriage if they wanted to, and they indicated a greater intention to do so. They were more confident about saying "no" to a partner who wanted to have sex and indicated they were more likely to do so. They also indicated a significantly increased awareness that sex—and not using protection—results from specific decisions, including the decision to do or say nothing. On the strength of these results, the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development decided to fund a more in-depth program: Communication skills to help adolescents prevent pregnancy (expanded study).
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