@article{fdfe3029bb074188a861baf92915ee03,
title = "More comprehensive sex education reduced teen births: Quasi-experimental evidence",
abstract = "Women in the United States are much more likely to become mothers as teens than those in other rich countries. Teen births are particularly likely to be reported as unintended, leading to debate over whether better information on sex and contraception might lead to reductions in teen births. We contribute to this debate by providing causal evidence at the population level. Our causal identification strategy exploits county-level variation in the timing and receipt of federal funding for more comprehensive sex education and data on age-specific teen birth rates at the county level constructed from birth certificate natality data covering all births in the United States. Our results show that federal funding for more comprehensive sex education reduced county-level teen birth rates by more than 3%. Our findings thus complement the mixed evidence to date from randomized control trials on teen pregnancies and births by providing population-level causal evidence that federal funding for more comprehensive sex education led to reductions in teen births.",
keywords = "Demography, Sex education, Teen births",
author = "Mark, {Nicholas D.E.} and Wu, {Lawrence L.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank the PNAS reviewers, editor, Paula England, Michael Hout, Brooke Whitfield, Michelle Blocklin, seminar participants at the NYU Institute for Education Sciences - Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Training Seminar and the Princeton Education Research Section Workshop, and members of the New York University Sociology Urban Writing Group for helpful comments. We also thank Jonathan Bearak and the Guttmacher Institute for providing county-level data on abortion access. Funding Information: and test additional models and innovative strategies to prevent teen pregnancy” (17). Competitive grant funding under PREP was intended to help prevent teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by delaying sexual activity and increasing condom and contraceptive use. TPP and PREP funded programs for middle-and high school-aged students but allowed programming to be delivered in a variety of settings, including schools, community centers, and medical clinics. Both eliminated the requirement that programs adhere to the eight-point abstinence-only mandate of PWRORA-funded programs, although programs were allowed discretion over whether to include abstinence as one means of avoiding a pregnancy. The approach and the topics covered thus varied substantially across funded programs. Although many interventions funded by TPP did not, for example, meet the National Sex Education Standards published by Future of Sex Education Initiative (18), the vast majority provided more comprehensive information on sex, contraception, and reproductive health than abstinence-only programs. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.",
year = "2022",
month = feb,
day = "22",
doi = "10.1073/pnas.2113144119",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "119",
journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
issn = "0027-8424",
publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",
number = "8",
}