UK Govt project fails to reduce teenage pregnancy - may have doubled it

[Dave Roberts]

The Young People's Development Programme (YPDP), set up in 2004, involved 27 pilot projects in different locations in England and ran until March 2007. Its aim was to address risk behaviour in relation to teenage pregnancy, substance misuse and educational attainment through a long-term programme for young people aged 13 to 15. However, research commissioned by the Department of Health and carried out by researchers at the Institute of Education, University of London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has cast doubt on its effectiveness.

The study, published today on www.bmj.com, found there were significantly more pregnancies among young women in the YPDP group than in a comparison group (16 per cent compared with 6 per cent). Young women in the YPDP group more commonly reported early heterosexual experience (58 per cent versus 33 per cent) and expectation of teenage parenthood (34 per cent versus 24 per cent).

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[Janet Evans]

I have heard it said that what we think, we become. Perhaps the YDPD would be better off encouraging young people to think about all that is good, pure, honourable, excellent and worthy of praise. Interest in music, sport, art, encourage their potential . . . and of course, inspire young poeple in their worth in Christ. Accent on the law (don't do this, don't do that) has never worked, right from the garden of Eden - sad that we are so rebellious in our nature, but that is certainly what we are.