Teen Pregnancy and Parenting: Improving Practice and Policy By Reevaluating Cultural Myths and Misperceptions

Introduction: Pregnant and parenting teens have been perceived by practitioners, policymakers, the media, and even researchers as possessing characteristics that constrain their future potential and the development of their children. These stereotyped misperceptions may lead to more generalized beliefs or “cultural myths.” Using a systems perspective, we identified 10 cultural myths which address the causes and consequences of teen pregnancy and parenting for the teens themselves, their children, and society more generally. This poster will present the myths, evaluate them using evidence, and conclude with recommendations for how researchers, policymakers, and practitioners can work together to prevent parent and child maladjustment in this population.

Methods: Based on an extensive review of the scholarly and popular literatures, we identified 10 cultural myths surrounding teen pregnancy and parenting. These myths were evaluated for validity using our own and other published data.

Results: All 10 cultural myths were largely based on misperceptions; there was some kernel of truth, however, to most of the myths. In response, we reworded each cultural myth into a more useful truth. A complete description is beyond the scope of this abstract but will be presented on the poster. An example is: Cultural myth: All teen pregnancies are unintended and unwanted. Reworded useful truth: Most teen pregnancies are the result of ambiguous intentions resulting from mixed emotional desires and thought processes.

Conclusions: The identification and rewording of these cultural myths have significant implications for public health prevention efforts by identifying processes and pathways that lead some young people into teen pregnancy and parenting and place some teen parents and their children at risk for maladjustment. Sharing useful truths will allow for the development and dissemination of best practice prevention efforts. For example, we need to move beyond the idea that sex education in itself will prevent teen pregnancy, and inform educators and policymakers that some teens may consciously or unconsciously put themselves at risk for teen pregnancy even when armed with knowledge of contraception. We will provide recommendations for building partnerships and transcending boundaries across systems in an effort to provide comprehensive and coordinated teen pregnancy prevention efforts and to prevent maladaptation among teen parents and their children.