Teen Pregnancy in the Context of Substance Abuse and Delinquency

¶ … Teen Pregnancy Prevention Interactive Systems Framework Technical Assistance Science-Based Approaches Getting to Outcomes Implementation

Duffy, J. L., Severson Prince, M., Johnson, E. E., Alton, F. L., Flynn, S., Mattison Faye, A., Edwards Padgett, P., Rollison, C., Becker, D., & Hinzey, A. L. 2012. Enhancing Teen Pregnancy Prevention in Local Communities: Capacity Building Using the Interactive Systems Framework. Am J Community Psychol. 50:370-385 DOI 10.1007/s10464-012-9531-9

"the Interactive Systems Framework (ISF) suggests that adopting innovations like GTO requires a significant amount of capacity building through training and technical assistance." (2012: 370)

"Chinman et al. (2008) examined the effects of training and TA provided to staff of two substance abuse coalitions to support their use of the Getting To Outcomes (GTO) process for planning, implementing and evaluating their prevention programs."

Variable 1: type of organization -- school or community.

- Variable 2: age of organization -- organizations ranged from around two years old and the majority were more than ten years old.

- Variable 3: Age of TPP program -- the majority of institutions conducted such programs for more than ten years.

- Variable 4: Full-time staff pregnancy prevention -- all institutions had less than ten staff tasked with controlling teen pregnancy situations, with the majority having fewer than four.

- Variable 5: Annual budget -- in most cases this variable ranged between $100,000 and $500,000 per year, with some organizations having budgets lower than $100,000.

-Variable 6: Sources of funding -- state funding dominated this aspect, with the State of South Carolina funding most organizations.

3. "The main forms of prevention support provided by the SC Campaign for this project consisted of trainings and intensive TA (T/TA). Although the project offered additional supports in the form of grants for implementing programs, scholarships, curriculum materials, and access to the GTO-based Online Learning Center, this paper only examines the effects of the primary intervention of training and intensive TA on innovation-specific capacity." (2012: 274-375)

4. The article's findings demonstrate that the Interactive Support Framework can be especially efficient. By performing measurements for three years, researchers found that science-based approaches can significantly influence teen pregnancy rates in an area.

Article # 2 -- Citation:

Killebrew, A. E., Smith, M. L., Nevels, R. M., Weiss, N. H., & Gontkovsky, S. M. 2014. African-American Adolescent Females in the Southeastern United States: Associations Among Risk Factors for Teen Pregnancy. JOURNAL OF CHILD & ADOLESCENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE, 23:65-77, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1067-828X print/1547-0652 online DOI: 10.1080/1067828X.2012.748591.

1. "Based on the aforementioned literature review, it is hypothesized that African-American, adolescent females with a history of pregnancy will be significantly more likely than their counterparts without children to have teenage peers with children and peers that use alcohol or drugs before engaging in sex." (2014: 70)

2. "Since adolescents rely heavily on friends, parents, teachers, and the media for sexual information, peer pressure and parental influence have been found to be two of the most influential factors in adolescents' experience with sex and pregnancy" (2014: 72)

- Variable 1: Substance abuse -- teenagers who consumed substances such as alcohol or marijuana were more likely to remain pregnant.

- Variable 2: parental influence -- Instances where parent-child relations were stronger reportedly generated less cases of teen-pregnancy.

- Variable 3: history of peer pregnancy -- Individuals who had same-age friends who remained pregnant were reported to express more liberal opinions with regard to the act and to be more vulnerable to becoming pregnant themselves.

3. "Also consistent with former research (e.g., Klein, Elifson, & Sterk, 2010; Markham et al., 2010), results of the present study suggest that teenagers with a history of pregnancy versus teenagers without a history of pregnancy were significantly less likely to discuss risks for teenage pregnancy with their parent and were significantly more likely to report that their parents had diminished expectancies regarding teenage pregnancy." (2014: 72)

4. "Findings gleaned from this investigation indicate a heightened risk for pregnancy among teens that lack parental closeness, have peers with children, and who drank alcohol and used drugs prior to sexual intercourse" (2014: 72)

Article # 3 -- Citation:

Leve, L. D., Kerr, D. C. R., & Harold, G. T., Young Adult Outcomes Associated With Teen Pregnancy Among High-Risk Girls in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 22:421-434, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1067-828X print/1547-0652 online DOI: 10.1080/1067828X.2013.788886

1. "It has been widely documented that delinquent girls are at increased risk for co-occurring problems with substance use" (2013: 422)

2. "In addition to co-occurring substance use problems, delinquent girls are at considerably higher risk for pregnancy and childbearing in adolescence as compared to their less delinquent counterparts" (2013: 422)

- Variable 1: baseline substance use -- aimed to determine the degree to which delinquent girls had used illegal substances in the past

- Variable 2: miscarriage of a new pregnancy -- girls were asked if they were pregnant and the time frame between the moment when they became pregnant and the interview

- Variable 3: child welfare involvement -- "At both young adult assessments, the young women were asked whether they had had any contact with child welfare authorities due to their parenting in the prior six months." (2013:428)