Teen Pregnancy and Educational Evaluation

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that few problems are as life-altering as unwanted pregnancy, especially when it happens to teens or adolescents. These cases are also difficult because adolescents and teens are normally still in school and trying, as most do at that age, to balance social and peer obligations with future goals and school work. The writer maintains that not only do most teens probably not perceive peer pressure as an invasion of private thoughts and decision-making, but they do, in many cases, perceive sexual education as such an invasion. The writer discusses that the literature surveyed indicates that education can help its own standing in the eyes of students by creating more effective learning experiences, and understanding the many predicaments of working with adolescents and teens. The literature is viewed in terms of specifically the way education is evaluated as successful or not and is facilitated by comparison of the various approaches to behavioral and attitudinal change.

Outline:
Studying Teen Pregnancy Prevention Educational Programs
Randomized and Non-randomized Samples
Measures of Evaluating Program Success
Testing Simulation-based Programming
The Experiential Approach
Qualitative Analysis
Simulation Models Compared with the Expressive Education Model
Contraceptive Use
Analyses of Gender Roles and Cultural Factors in Teen Pregnancy
Educational Roles of Culture and Cultural Roles of Education
References

From the Paper:

" The influence that education has on teen pregnancy cannot be overemphasized, although particular programs' efficacy needs to be questioned and fully understood. Since education is a part of every person's development, the transition into including material related to what is considered a major health problem of teen pregnancy should be easier than our social concerns would imply. The social/cultural aspect in this brief survey of studies so far has not included enough attention, but in one study that focused on communication between students, parents and teachers where gender construction was found to be a significant factor. Because knowledge and cultural beliefs are not necessarily linked, there might be a hesitation on the part of researchers to combine their analyses. But nevertheless, more and more researchers are using cultural data to determine influences on teen sexuality and trying to figure out the best ways to collect this type of data and collect data about sexual education in light of it."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Baytop, Chanza M. (2006) "Evaluating the Effectivness of Programs to Improve Educational Attainment of Unwed African American Teen Mother: A Meta Analysis" Journal Of Negro Education. Howard University.
• Somers, Johnson, and Sawilowsky.
• Teenage Pregnancy Prevention and Adolescents' Sexual Outcomes: An Experiential Approach". American Secondary Education 34 no2 Spr 2006
• Yoo, Seunghyun. Johnson, Carolyn C. Rice, Janet. Powlin, Manuel. (2005) "A Qualitative Evalutation of the Students of Service (SOS) Program for Sexual Abstinence in Lousiana" Journal of School Health.
• Somers, Gleason, Johnson, and Fahlman. (2001) "ADOLESCENTS' AND TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF A TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION PROGRAM AMERICAN SECONDARY EDUCATION 2". Amercan Academy of Education

More papers on Teen Pregnancy and Educational Evaluation:

• Term Paper # 105999 : "Teen Pregnancy Program Evaluation Plan"
• Research Paper # 54805 : "Teen Pregnancies"
• Essay # 70069 : "Reasons for Teenage Pregnancy in the US"

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