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Adolescent Pregnancy in Canada: Multicultural Considerations, Regional Differences, and the Legacy of Liberalization

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International Handbook of Adolescent Pregnancy

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Abstract

This chapter explores adolescent pregnancy among Canadians. Canada enjoys a relatively low teenage pregnancy rate compared with other Western nations, but aggregate statistics mask regional variations. As a vast nation with two European colonial settler populations and diverse Aboriginal peoples, Canada has historically been a diverse country. Canada’s multicultural policy has further diversified the population, making large urban centers such as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver among the most diverse cities in the world. Federally funded health care is managed at the provincial level making each province’s priorities and delivery different. While a human sexual rights perspective broadly frames reproductive health and national guidelines for sexual health education, local programs are not bound to them. Women generally enjoy high levels of access to health care, abortion, and reproductive health information, but there is variation in access, attitudes, and behaviors. The ethno-cultural diversity of Canada’s population, its regional differences, languages, and religions challenge aggregate analyses and social service implementation. These concerns are reflected in the body of research about adolescent pregnancy in Canada. In this chapter, we describe variation in, and attitudes toward, adolescent pregnancy and sexual behavior are described with emphasis on adolescents and young women. These issues remain strongly influenced by Canada’s extensive geographical realities as well as political, social, and economic values that reflect dedication to upholding multicultural differences, social justice, and freedom. Widely sanctioned reproductive choice and sexual education programs exemplify how Canadian values translate into rational and health promoting policies rather than punitive and restrictive agendas which lead to less effective health and mental health care for women and their newborns. We discuss these issues in this chapter but first we begin by providing a brief description of Canada’s history and its population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington, 211 S. Cooper Street, Arlington, TX, 76019-0129, USA

    Anne Nordberg

  2. School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 South University, Room 2847, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Jorge Delva & Pilar Horner

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  1. Anne Nordberg
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  2. Jorge Delva
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  3. Pilar Horner
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Correspondence to Anne Nordberg .

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  1. University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

    Andrew L. Cherry

  2. University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

    Mary E. Dillon

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Nordberg, A., Delva, J., Horner, P. (2014). Adolescent Pregnancy in Canada: Multicultural Considerations, Regional Differences, and the Legacy of Liberalization. In: Cherry, A., Dillon, M. (eds) International Handbook of Adolescent Pregnancy. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8026-7_11

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