Search Results

METHODS:
Data collected from the 2002-2005 rounds of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth yielded a sample of 4,014 dating relationships among sexually active 18-26-year-olds. Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic and multinomial logistic regressions assessed associations between relationship characteristics and contraceptive use at last sex.

RESULTS:
In three-quarters of the relationships, respondents had used some method at last intercourse; respondents in 26% of the relationships had used a condom only, in 26% a hormonal method only and in 23% dual methods. Compared with respondents in relationships in which first sex occurred within two months of starting to date, those who first had sex before dating were more likely to have used any method at last sex (odds ratio, 1.4), particularly condoms or dual methods (relative risk ratio, 1.5 for each). The relative risk of using a hormonal method only, rather than no method or condoms only, increased with relationship duration (1.01) and level of intimacy (1.1-1.2). Discussing marriage or cohabitation was associated with reduced odds of having used any method (0.7) and a reduced relative risk of having used condoms alone or dual methods (0.6 for each). Increasing levels of partner conflict and asymmetry were also linked to reduced odds of any method use (0.97 and 0.90, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS:
Prevention programs should address relationship context in contraceptive decision making, perhaps by combining relationship and sex education curricula to foster communication and negotiation skills.
Copyright © 2011 by the Guttmacher Institute.

In light of teen mothers' heightened risk of becoming high school dropouts, Child Trends used recently released national survey data to explore high school diploma and GED attainment among women who had given birth as teens. Particularly, we looked at whether they had earned these educational credentials by the time that they reached their early twenties.

Our findings show that slightly more than one-half of young women who had been teen mothers received a high school diploma by the age of 22, compared with 89 percent of young women who had not given birth during their teen years. Furthermore, results of our analyses show that young women who had a child before the age of 18 were even less likely than were those who had a child when they were 18 or 19 to earn a high school diploma before the age of 22, although the rates of GED attainment in the former group were slightly higher. We also found differences in educational attainment among teen mothers by race/ethnicity.