Negative Test at Health Clinic Seen Indicator of Later Pregnancy

When a teenage girl walks out of a health clinic with a negative pregnancy test, there's a good chance that she'll be back.

A new national study by Johns Hopkins University researchers found that one out of four girls who become pregnant by age 17 have had an earlier negative test result at a clinic.

At a time when targeting pregnancy-prevention efforts to the young women who need them most has become crucial as well as problematic, the findings suggest some prime candidates. For some teenage girls, a pregnancy test at a clinic may be "a cry for...