Sexual Behavior
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Curriculum
U.S. Teenage Birthrate Tops Industrial Nations
Clinton Administration officials have hailed the recently reported five-year drop in the teenage birthrate as a national achievement. They have cited better contraceptive use and abstinence education as proof that school and community-based approaches thwart childbearing by teenagers.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Survey Method Unveils More Risky Behavior
Teenage boys are using illegal drugs, engaging in risky sexual behaviors, and committing violent acts at significantly greater rates than previous studies have estimated, says a report published last week in the journal Science. The researchers attribute the differences to a new survey method they say is more reliable than older methods.
Education
Hispanic Teenagers Top Black, White Birthrate
A federal study showing that Hispanic teenagers for the first time are giving birth at a higher rate than either black or white girls has school health professionals questioning whether enough pregnancy-prevention services are targeting Hispanic females.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Pregnant Pause
On a sleepy stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway that zigzags along the ocean here, logging trucks cart lumber to local mills, passing dairy farms and oyster boats rocking in the bay.
Curriculum
Statistics on STDs in St. Louis Spark Debate on Sex Ed.
Alarming rates of sexually transmitted diseases in St. Louis are provoking debate about whether sex education programs in the public schools there are effective.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Rate of Teenagers Engaging in Sex Declines
The percentage of teenagers who are engaging in sex has decreased--the first such dip since 1970--after rising steadily for more than two decades, according to a federal survey.
Law & Courts
Firestorm in Wake of Salt Lake City Vote Continues To Grow
The formation last week of a support and advocacy group for homosexual teachers in Utah capped a series of protests over the Salt Lake City school board's ban on extracurricular clubs.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Gay Students' Request Spurs Board To Cut Clubs
The Salt Lake City school board voted last week to eliminate all extracurricular clubs rather than allow the formation of a gay students' support group at one of its high schools.
Education
Teen Birthrate Drops
Two separate reports released in September by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show an apparent reversal of the trend of rising teenage pregnancy and birthrates that began in the late 1980s.
Education
Drop in Pregnancy, Birthrates May Not Add Up to Trend
New federal figures that show a drop in pregnancy and childbirth rates among young women may represent hope but not salvation for those seeking to curb teenage pregnancy, experts said last week.
Education
Teenage Birthrates Decline For the 1st Time Since '86, New Federal Study
Birthrates for girls ages 15 to 17 have fallen for the first time in nearly a decade, "halting" an increase that began in the mid-1980's, a federal study says.
Education
Teenagers Found More Effective at Preventing Pregnancies
While more teenagers are having sexual intercourse at younger ages, they have become more effective at preventing pregnancies, according to a report released last week by the Alan Guttmacher Institute.
Education
Teenage Pregnancy, AIDS Spurring Support of Abstinence in Curricula
The continuing problem of teenage pregnancy and the growing prevalence of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers are leading many parents, educators, and state lawmakers to advocate sex-education programs that teach, sometimes exclusively, abstinence as a preventive-health measure.