4 Troubled Teens Blog

Fewer teens are getting pregnant and fewer pregnant teens are having abortions, according to statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC provided data for the years 1990-2003, showing that teen pregnancies were 15% of the total in 1990, but only 12% in 2003. The percentage of pregnancies ending in abortion also declined, said spokesperson Stephanie Ventura, because more teens are opting to keep their babies.

If your teenage daughter is pregnant and also engaging in risky behaviors, she may benefit from a therapeutic program for pregnant teens like the one offered at an adolescent residential treatment center like Youth Care.

Labels: sex, pregnancy, abstinence

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

The Wilcox Unified School District recently received some shocking news: teen pregnancy rates in the Arizona city are three times the national average. The news comes just as the school district has approved an abstinence program that will begin January 6th.

"'Our goal is to have six sessions, one each week, beginning in late January,' said [Sally] White [director of Wilcox Against Substance Abuse]. They will be in the classroom setting, just as we do our substance abuse and SRO classes.'"

Students must have their parents' permission to attend the classes, with cover such topics as STDs, teen pregnancy, violence in dating and emotional consequences. The school board voted unanimously to approve the program, which will use age-appropriate material and be available for students in 6th  12th grades.

Copper Canyon Academy is a boarding school for troubled girls in Arizona. Learn more about their all girls school at www.coppercanyonacademy.com.

Labels: sex, pregnancy, abstinence

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

Yale and Columbia Universities have released a study which shows that teens who take virginity pledges aren't any less likely to catch sexually transmitted diseases than teens that don't make the pledge. The pledging teens may wait longer before having sex, but when they do, they're less likely to use a condom and are more likely to experiment with riskier sexual behavior.

"Virginity pledges emerged in the early 1990s based on the theory that young people would remain chaste if they had stronger community support - or pressure - to remain abstinent. Programs vary, but in most cases teenagers voluntarily sign a pledge or publicly announce their intention to abstain from sex."

Over 60% of the young people who participated in the survey-based study and took virginity pledges reported having sex before they were married. Additionally, just 2% of teens who didn't take virginity pledges said they had had anal or oral sex, as opposed to 13% of those who had taken the pledges. Read more at WashingtonPost.com.

Is your teen engaging in risky behaviors like sex and teen drug use? DrugRehabTreatment.com offers way you can help your teenager before things get worse and why you shouldn't wait to get your child treatment.

Labels: sex, risky_behaviors, abstinence

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments