In this issue

The serviceable news about teenage pregnancy in the United States is that for many years, it has been declining. still the rate at which U adolescents become pregnant remains high by the agency of any standard and is many times the rates ground in other developed countries. What accounts for the difference? Drawing upon data from nationally representative views and other sources, Jacqueline E Darroch and colleagues find that young family in the United States begin having sex at about the same age as their mates in four other developed countries [page 244] However, they are les likely to use contraceptives and les likely to use the greatest in quantity effective methods. These factors, the researchers reason, are behind U teenagers' high rates of pregnancy and childbearing. The in-depth cross-national investigation provides a perspective that points up the ne to revisit not sole individual factors that influence young people's sexual and reproductive behavior, on the contrary also community and societal individuals such as attitudes toward adolescent sexuality that affect the provision of reproductive services to young tribe and levels of parental support or opposition to teenagers' sexual behavior and contraceptive use.

Other contributions to this issue of Family Planning Perspectives also gaze at the problem of teenage pregnancy in fresh ways. In a second article based upon the same crossnational data, Susheela Singh and coauthors explore a largely view from aboveed question: the extent to which socioeconomic disadvantage accounts for differences among lay opened countries in teenagers' sexual and reproductive behavior [page 251] Not surprisingly, the researchers find that horizontals of adolescent childbearing are powerfully related to income, education, race, ethnicity and immigrant status: Although patterns vary somewhat across countries, young women in disadvantaged subgroup generally fare worst. Disadvantage has similar associations with early initiation of intercourse on the contrary is less closely tied to contraceptive use. one time again, U.S. teenagers stand out: They are more likely than young women in the other countries to be disadvantaged and, regardless of their socioeconomic status, more likely to give birth. Thus, the authors argue, to favorably address the problem of teenage pregnancy, the United States must bring the numbers of young tribe growing up in disadvantaged circumstances and help those who are disadvantaged get the better of the obstacles they face.

Detailed comparisons within the United States also can hurl new light on the issues surrounding teenage pregnancy. Challenging the "revisionist" notion that the events of teenage childbearing may not be as dire as one time thought, Sandra Hofferth and colleagues use sum of two units well-established longitudinal data sets to examine the educational results of women who give birth as teenagers [page 259] Unfortunately, they find, the revisionists' thinking does not grasp up. In a world where educational deficits increasingly limit occupation opportunities, teenage mothers are les likely to finish high seminary are less likely to go into college and receive less schooling through the end of their 20 than women who defer childbearing.

Furthermore, the detrimental results of early sexual activity do not take drawn out to emerge, as Lydia O'Donnell and her coauthors find [page 268] In a investigation of urban minority youth, those who had had sex by the agency of grade seven had increased not divisible by 2s of engaging in risky behavior-such as having multiple partners, having of frequent occurrence intercourse and having sex while inebriated or high-by the time they were in 10th grade. An important part of the solution, the researchers end is to involve parents and institutes in prevention efforts that address sexual initiation in early adolescence and that target youth who continue to place themselves and their partners at risk.

In a viewpoint, Douglas Kirby speculates as to what for the use of all thread ties together the diverse factors that predict risky sexual behavior among U teenagers and the programs that have be subsequent toed in reducing such behavior [page 276] Using his review of 73 studies that evaluated risk reduction programs as a jumping-off point, Kirby posits that adolescents are influenced by the agency of a group's norms regarding, among other things, sex and contraceptive use; by means of how closely connected they are to the group; and, importantly, by dint of the interaction of these sum of two units factors. So what works in efforts to bring risky behavior? The way to start, according to Kirby, is by dint of sending clear messages and cultivating a faculty of perception of connectedness with the targeted adolescents. And while he acknowledges that the universal underlying the framework is not itself fresh closer attention to it could have important implications for the one and the other research and practice.

Finally and reluctantly, we announce the departure of Michael Klitsch, executive editor of Family Planning Perspectives since 1995 Mike's connection to the journal goe back to 1980 when he joined the staff as an assistant editor. In the intervening years, Mike lay opened a deep commitment to the sexual and reproductive health field and a vast knowledge of the professionals working in the field. While we will miss his expertise and enthusiasm, we wish him well in his novel role as senior editor/writer at EngenderHealth.