Attitudes of adolescents toward pregnancy and contraception

Teenage pregnancy rates are increasing, particularly among the younger age groups. The causes of this increase are varied. While many people assume that most adolescent pregnancies are unwanted and result from a lack of contraceptive knowledge and/or availability, our findings were quite to the contrary. In-depth interviews with 87 pregnant teenagers in a large Southern city revealed that almost all had knowledge of contraception and that most were happy about being pregnant. Multidisciplinary programs have been organized throughout the country to address the adolescent pregnancy problem. Our study emphasizes the fact that to be effective, such programs must be tailored to the individual target group and that concentrating on the increased dissemination of contraceptive knowledge and methods may not be the most effective approach in some groups.