Teen pregnancy and birth rates might have reached historic lows in Minnesota in 2016, but sexual abuse and relationship violence could undermine further progress.
Nearly one in five 11th-graders reported some form of relationship violence in 2016, and nearly one in 10 specifically reported sexual violence, according to the annual adolescent sexual health report released Thursday by the University of Minnesota.
The results suggest a need to get beyond "the nuts and the bolts and the birds and the bees" and to start talking with teens more about healthy relationships, said Jill Farris, director of adolescent sexual health training and education at the U's medical school.
"We probably need to broaden our definition of success [with teens] to be more than just not getting pregnant," she said.
Advocates attribute the historic decline in Minnesota's pregnancy rate — from 59 pregnancies per 1,000 teens ages 15-19 in 1990, to 17.2 pregnancies in 2016 — to delayed initiation of sex and broader use of contraception. Many sex education classes in Minnesota have focused more on goal-setting and helping teens see how unplanned pregnancies could disrupt those goals.
Success on that front allowed university researchers for the first time this year to expand their adolescent sexual health report to focus on partner violence. What they found is that one can influence the other, and further progress in pregnancy prevention might require more focus on healthy relationships.
Drawing data from the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey, the researchers found that sexually harassed high school students were more likely to skip school and feel unsafe, and sexually abused students were much more likely to abuse drugs and have suicidal thoughts.
Related to pregnancy risks, the data also showed that sexually abused students were less likely to use contraception and more likely to have multiple sexual partners.