Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenthood in Germany

Abstract

In this chapter, sexual maturation and becoming sexually active are viewed as preconditions for adolescent pregnancy. For instance, German adolescents become sexually mature about 3 years earlier than 100 years ago. In Germany, sexual relations between adolescents are common and widely socially accepted since the sexual liberalization in the 1960s and 1970s. As well, less than 20 % of German women born between 1935 and 1950 had their first sexual intercourse before the age of 18. The percentage has increased to more than 70 %. Today, most German adolescents have their first intercourse in a steady romantic relationship. Only one percent of the girls and 3 % of the boys had their first sexual intercourse with a stranger. Because the lack of competent use of contraception is another precondition for pregnancy, the authors provide data on the use of contraception and contraception failures among German adolescents. Then, the focus shifts to the prevalence and risk factors for pregnancy among German adolescents. We then review research on the two most frequent outcomes of teenage pregnancy—abortion and teenage parenthood. In the final part of the chapter, efforts in preventing adolescent pregnancy and supporting young parents and their children are examined. We also provide conclusions for the improvement of prevention of adolescent pregnancy and services for adolescent parents and for future research in that field. For some topics, we were able to rely on large empirical studies, most often conducted by or with the support of the German Federal Center for Health Education (Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung—BZgA). For other topics, only small qualitative studies that provide some useful insights but do not offer representative data are available. High-quality studies on the evaluation of effects of prevention and interventions were lacking.