Education can provide young people as they develop with the tools they need to promote positive, healthy relationships. Education is also important to prevent unintended pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. The following resources highlight evidence informed services to promote and support healthy relationships and strategies for preventing teen pregnancy and early parenthood.
Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention
Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB)
Outlines the State, Tribal, and community efforts FYSB supports to prevent pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents by the promotion of comprehensive sex education, adulthood preparation programs, and abstinence education. FYSB also provides the Exchange, an interactive platform for those involved with the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention program, which helps organizations and communities that are working to prevent pregnancy among vulnerable youth.
DREAMR: Determined, Responsible and Empower Adolescents Mentoring Relationships Projects
Clark County Department of Family Services
Provides information and resources promote relational competencies in order to support pregnancy prevention and equip youth already pregnant or parenting in out-of-home care.
Effectiveness of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs Designed Specifically for Young Males
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Provides information on three 5-year research projects that evaluate various interventions designed for young men aged 15–24 years old to reduce their risk of becoming a teen father or fathering a teenage pregnancy. The interventions represented in these three projects are a motivational interviewing intervention using mobile devices and delivered, in part, in a clinic; a father-son intervention delivered in the home; and a group-based intervention delivered in juvenile justice settings. These projects are funded through a collaboration by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) and the CDC.
Legisbrief: Preventing Pregnancy Among Older Teens (PDF - 100 KB)
National Conference of State Legislators (2014)
Legisbrief: Briefing Papers on the Important Issues of the Day
Provides statistics on U.S. teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates. This brief suggests that community colleges help prevent unplanned pregnancies by integrating education about healthy relationships and effective contraception into existing coursework, freshman orientation, or campus-wide extracurricular activities; ensuring their health clinics provide or refer students to contraceptive and sexually transmitted infection services; posting educational materials in community spaces; and offering links to resources on the school's website. State initiatives to address the disproportionate incidence of unplanned pregnancy among older teens are described, as well as Federal action that funds at least one clinic in most U.S. countries to provide family planning and preventive health services.
Pregnancy Prevention
Youth.gov
Provides information, strategies, tools, and resources for youth, families, schools, and community organizations on a variety of crosscutting topics that affect youth. The program directory features evidence-based programs, including teen parenthood and teen pregnancy prevention programs.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Identifies programs with evidence of effectiveness in reducing teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and associated sexual risk behaviors. These programs reflect a range of approaches that exist in the field.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Provides resources, training materials, and program models for organizations working to reduce teen pregnancy.
Updated Findings from the HHS Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review: April 2013 Through July 2014 (PDF - 212 KB)
Goesling, Lugo-Gil, Lee, & Novak (2015)
Mathematica Policy Research & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
Discusses two newly identified programs from published research conducted between April 2013 and July 2014 that effectively decreases teen pregnancy. These programs are the Get Real program, a school-based, comprehensive sex education program for middle and high school students that has resulted in students significantly less likely to initiate sexual activity by the end of 8th grade; and the Prime Time program, a youth development program for adolescent females at high risk for teen pregnancy that resulted an increase in the number of girls reporting sexual abstinence in the past six months.