“More teen moms in more religious states - United Press International” plus 4 more |
- More teen moms in more religious states - United Press International
- Religious Teens More Likely to Have Unexpected Pregnancy - Food Consumer
- Arizona Among "Religious" States With Highest Teen Pregnancy Rates - Valley Fever
- Religious Belief No Barrier to Teen Pregnancy - ABC News
- Emmerdale stars expecting a baby - Entertainment.uk.msn.com
| More teen moms in more religious states - United Press International Posted: 17 Sep 2009 01:11 PM PDT PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Areas of the United States associated with conservative religious beliefs have higher teen mother birth rates, researchers say. Joseph Strayhorn, an adjunct faculty member with Drexel University in Philadelphia and the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues used data from the Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscapes Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to arrive at their conclusion. The religiosity of a state was determined by averaging the percentages of respondents who agreed with the eight most conservative opinions possible in the Religious Landscapes Survey, such as: "There is only one way to interpret the teachings of my religion" or "Scripture should be taken literally, word for word." "The magnitude of the correlation between religiosity and teen birth rate astonished us," Strayhorn said in a statement. "Our findings by themselves do not, of course, permit causal inferences. But, if we may speculate on the most probable explanation, we conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself." The findings are published in the journal Reproductive Health.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Religious Teens More Likely to Have Unexpected Pregnancy - Food Consumer Posted: 17 Sep 2009 04:17 PM PDT
By Rachel Stockton rachels at foodconsumer dot org
The journal Reproductive Health is reporting on a study conducted by Dr. Joseph Strayhorn, Child/Adolescent Psychologist Drexel University College of Medicine, comparing religiosity with teen pregnancy.
Data on teen pregnancy for the research came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while information on income levels came from the U.S Census Bureau. Religiosity data came from the U.S Religious Landscape Survey.
For the study, the term "religiosity" is defined by those who agreed with the following conservative statements:
1) Belief in a God or universal spirit: Absolutely Certain. 2) There is only one way to interpret the teachings of my religion. 3) Scripture should be taken literally, word for word. 4) How important is religion in your life: Very Important. 5) My religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life. 6) Frequency of attendance at religious services: at least once a week. 7) Frequency of prayer: at least once a day. 8) How often do you receive a definite answer to a specific prayer request: at least once a month.
States that had a higher religiosity percentage also had the highest teen pregnancy rates, even after accounting for certain controls, such as income level and abortion.
Parents who agreed unequivocally with the above statements also overwhelmingly believe that any type of sex education taught in public schools should be only abstinence based.
While some may be surprised by these findings, Sandra Tester, family therapist, is not. She has found in her practice that teenagers from religiously conservative homes fail to use birth control, even after they become sexually active. Some of this, she explains, is because they feel guilty enough about having sex to begin with. Actively searching out birth control leaves no room for denying that they are "disobeying" what they've been taught all of their lives.
The authors of the study also maintain that while highly religious homes emphatically emphasize that sex before marriage is anathema, they do not go on to explain birth control to their children, should something go "wrong", and the teen doesn't comply with the sexual restrictions the parents put forth.
Ms. Tester suggests that parents who believe strongly in abstinence before marriage do not have to compromise their beliefs when teaching their kids about teen pregnancy and sex. She urges them to leave their children an "out", by acknowledging that they, and God, know they are only human, and that sometimes, plans become waylaid. That way, the teenager will be more likely to come to the parent asking about birth control if they become sexually active, so that an unwanted, teen pregnancy can be avoided.
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| Arizona Among "Religious" States With Highest Teen Pregnancy Rates - Valley Fever Posted: 17 Sep 2009 03:48 PM PDT A recent study suggests states deemed highly religious have a higher teen-pregnancy rate than more God-challenged states; as expected, Arizona is ranked in the top five in the religious category. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Drexel University, suggests that certain values found within very religious communities are the cause for the spiked rate of pregnant teeny-boppers. Joseph Strayhorn, one of the study's primary researchers, tells Live Science that communities adopting a literal interpretation to the Bible often discourage the use of contraceptives and rarely do enough to discourage teens from having sex. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. To define "highly religious," those polled were asked if they agreed with a series of questions, including: ''There is only one way to interpret the teachings of my religion," and ''Scripture should be taken literally, word for word." Literal interpretation, huh? How do some of these Bible-thumpers feel about Deuteronomy 22:20-1: "If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by whoring while still in her father's house."
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| Religious Belief No Barrier to Teen Pregnancy - ABC News Posted: 17 Sep 2009 10:19 AM PDT States with populations that express strong religious beliefs also have high teenage birth rates, according to a new study. That's the conclusion drawn by Dr. Joseph M. Strayhorn, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with faculty appointments at Drexel University College of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh. His analysis, written with co-author Jillian Strayhorn, was recently published in the open access journal Reproductive Health. The authors correlated data collected by Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in 2008 data with teen birth rate data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and income data from the U.S. Bureau of Census. Not surprisingly, states with a higher religious index score had a lower abortion rate, so religiosity predicted more teen births and fewer abortions, Strayhorn found. The correlation remained high even when the researchers controlled for income. "(A) possible explanation for this relationship is that teens in more religious communities may be less likely to use contraception," Strayhorn wrote. Likewise, he said, it was possible that "conservative religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging use of contraception among their teen community members than in discouraging sexual intercourse itself." He also cautioned against using the results to conclude that religious teens get pregnant more often. "The associations we report could still be obtained if, hypothetically, religiosity in communities had an effect of discouraging contraceptive use in the whole community, including the nonreligious teens there, and only nonreligious teens became pregnant."
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| Emmerdale stars expecting a baby - Entertainment.uk.msn.com Posted: 17 Sep 2009 07:37 PM PDT Emmerdale stars Charley Webb and Matthew Wolfenden are expecting their first child together, it has been announced. Charley, 21, who has played Debbie Dingle in the ITV1 soap for nearly seven years, will give birth in the spring. The couple, who have been dating for several years, are said to be "delighted" about the pregnancy. Charley is at the centre of a storyline which will see the return of Debbie's mother Charity Tate (Emma Atkins). No decision has yet been made as to whether the pregnancy will be written into her storylines. Matthew has played David Metcalfe in the soap for nearly three years.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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