Periodic estimation of the incidence of global unintended pregnancy can help demonstrate the need for and impact of family planning programs. We draw upon multiple sources of data to estimate pregnancy incidence by intention status and outcome at worldwide, regional, and subregional levels in 2012 and to assess recent trends using previously published estimates for 2008 and 1995. We find that 213 million pregnancies occurred in 2012, up slightly from 211 million in 2008. The global pregnancy rate decreased only slightly from 2008 to 2012, after declining substantially between 1995 and 2008. Eighty-five million pregnancies, representing 40 percent of all pregnancies, were unintended in 2012. Of these, 50 percent ended in abortion, 13 percent ended in miscarriage, and 38 percent resulted in an unplanned birth. The unintended pregnancy rate continued to decline in Africa and in the Latin America and Caribbean region. If the aims of the London Summit on Family Planning are carried out, the incidence of unwanted and mistimed pregnancies should decline in the coming years.

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Intended and unintended pregnancies worldwide in 2012 and recent trends.

This review details a key innovation across the field of adolescent sexuality research over the last decade—conceptualizing sexuality as a normative aspect of adolescent development. Anchored in a growing articulation of adolescent sexuality as having positive qualities and consequences, we provide an organizing framework for understanding sexuality as normative and developmentally expected. Using this framework, we report on 3 specific areas of research that have developed “critical mass” over the past decade: new views on sexual behavior, sexual selfhood, and sexual socialization in the 21st century. We conclude by suggesting that the next step in the field of adolescent sexuality development is the explicit integration of “positive” dimensions of sexuality with risk management dimensions. Rather than navigating a binary between positive and risky, we propose characterizing the “both/and” quality of adolescent sexuality development as normative. This framework, we argue, encourages empirical research that assumes a wide range of strategies through which adolescents learn about themselves, their bodies, intimate partners, and relationships within contexts where they are required to both manage risks and develop positive patterns for adulthood sexuality. We conclude with considerations for future research and public policy.

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Normative Sexuality Development in Adolescence: A Decade in Review, 2000–2009

This article reviews areas of advancement over the past decade in our understanding of remarriage and stepfamilies and suggests promising new directions for future work. Profound shifts in the demographic context of family life motivate central themes in recent scholarship on remarriage and stepfamilies, including the diversity and complexity of stepfamily structures and processes, the consequences of multiple partnerships for adults and children, and potential selectivity in the characteristics of individuals entering remarried families and stepfamilies. Despite challenges to further progress, I argue that remarriage and stepfamilies offer strategic opportunities to investigate many core concerns of family scholars.

Remarriage and stepfamilies: Strategic sites for family scholarship in the 21st century.

Global, regional, and subregional trends in unintended pregnancy and its outcomes from 1990 to 2014: estimates from a Bayesian hierarchical model

Annual Meeting of The Population Association

The Consequences of Unintended Childbearing: A White Paper.

Few studies with nationally representative longitudinal data have examined whether and how family religiosity is associated with adolescent sexual and contraceptive behavior. Data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to examine associations between a multidimensional measure of family religiosity assessed during early adolescence and reproductive health outcomes (sexual activity number of partners and consistent contraceptive use) at age 17. Pathways through which family religiosity is associated with these outcomes were identified using structural equation models. Family religiosity was negatively associated with adolescent sexual activity both directly (beta -0.14) and indirectly (-0.02). The indirect association was mediated by family cohesion (as reflected in parental monitoring among the entire sample and among males and in parent-teenager relationship quality and family routine activities among females) and negative peer behaviors. Greater family religiosity was indirectly associated with having fewer sexual partners (-0.03) and with using contraceptives consistently (0.02); these relationships were mediated through later age at first sex more positive peer environments and higher levels of parental monitoring and awareness. However among sexually active males (but not females) family religiosity was directly and negatively associated with contraceptive consistency (-0.11). Cohesive family environments and positive peer networks contribute to reduced levels of risky sexual behavior among adolescents from religious families. Parents who monitor their childrens activities and peer environments engage their families in regular activities and foster strong parent-child relationships can help reduce risky sexual behavior regardless of family religiosity. Parental involvement in prevention programs may help reduce rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.

https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/4010508.pdf

Pathways from family religiosity to adolescent sexual activity and contraceptive use.

This article uses a sample of 1,731 fathers aged 16 - 45 from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth to identify factors associated with multiple-partner fertility. Almost one third of fathers who reported multiple-partner fertility did so across a series of nonmarital relationships, and nonmarital-only multiple-partner fertility has been increasing across recent cohorts of men. Being older, having a first sexual experience or a first child at a young age, and fathering a child outside of marriage or cohabitation are associated with greater odds of multiple-partner fertility, whereas having additional children with the first birth mother is associated with reduced odds. Black, Hispanic, and young fathers have especially high odds of experiencing multiple-partner fertility across a series of nonmarital relationships.

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Factors Associated With Multiple-Partner Fertility Among Fathers.

Overview. Most people agree that children are important both for their own sake and for America’s future. Therefore, it is vital to nurture children’s development and well-being, and to identify those factors that can increase the odds that children will experience a “strong start” in life. This Research Brief identifies and examines factors associated with children being born and growing up healthy—in other words, with a strong start. To identify potential factors, Child Trends conducted an extensive review of research studies to identify maternal and family antecedents (conditions and characteristics before and during pregnancy) of healthy infant and child outcomes. We examined factors that might be related to children’s prospects at the time of their birth and then assessed the research on these potential constructs to see whether studies show that each factor matters. Our work extends previous research by identifying characteristics of the mother and her environment that are associated not only with positive health outcomes at the time of the birth (such as healthy birthweight or full-term delivery) but that also may be linked to positive physical, behavioral, and cognitive outcomes in early childhood and into adolescence. From our review of studies, we identified seven major categories of antecedents associated with a strong start in life: the mother’s health, health-related services, health-related behaviors, lack of material hardship, social support and marriage, attitudes, and social and demographic characteristics. We also identified individual factors falling within each category that have been found to be associated with child outcomes. For example, mothers’ being in good physical health, 13,24 receiving long-term prenatal care, 29,49 having an intended birth 48 or having a positive attitude about the birth, 57,68 and not smoking, drinking, or using drugs during pregnancy 49,60,65,68 are associated with carrying a baby to full term and having a baby who is born at a healthy weight. Similarly, having a mother with access to adequate financial resources 10,46 and higher education 16 and being born into a household with two biological parents in a high-quality marital relationship 10,39 and social support lower the risks of problem behaviors and poor cognitive development in childhood.

https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Child_Trends-2007_02_12_RB_StrongStart.pdf

Conceptualizing a "Strong Start": Antecedents of Positive Child Outcomes at Birth and Into Early Childhood

BACKGROUND Young people who live in rural areas are less likely to finish high school and to complete college than their urban and suburban peers. These adolescents are also more likely to use drugs and alcohol. In fact, rural adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 have the highest levels of drug use in this age group. Out-ofschool time programs in rural areas can provide healthy and constructive activities that offer productive ways for children and youth to spend their time, build positive relationships, and receive academic support. This brief highlights the challenges faced by rural out-of-school programs and suggests several strategies that can strengthen these programs.

/pdf/strategies-for-improving-out-of-school-programs-in-rural-2irkd56kw4.pdf

Cassandra Logan

Papers

The Consequences of Unintended Childbearing: A White Paper.

Pathways from family religiosity to adolescent sexual activity and contraceptive use.

Factors Associated With Multiple-Partner Fertility Among Fathers.

Conceptualizing a "Strong Start": Antecedents of Positive Child Outcomes at Birth and Into Early Childhood

Strategies for improving out-of-school programs in rural