Teenage pregnancy trends in Canada

Overview

Students locate, interpret and present data on teenage pregnancy trends in Canada.

Contributor: Ann Cunningham, Statistics Canada Support Teacher.

Objectives

• To become familiar with Canadian demographic data relevant to the issue of trends in teenage pregnancy in Canada
• To develop skills in locating and interpreting data, including the ability to analyse Statistics Canada articles, tables, and charts/graphs
• To appreciate the factors (social, economic, medical, educational, etc.) involved when Canadian teenagers become pregnant

Suggested grade level and subject area

Secondary
Family Studies

Vocabulary

See Definitions section of the reading, particularly

Teenage pregnancy — Defined in the article as a pregnancy of a woman who was aged 15 to 19 when her pregnancy ended. Pregnancies are calculated as the sum of live births, induced abortions, and fetal loss (stillbirths and miscarriages) for which administrative records are available.
Teenage pregnancy rate — The number of pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.
Teenage live birth rate — The number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.
Teenage abortion rate — The number of induced abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.
Fetal loss — The sum of miscarriages plus stillbirths.
Miscarriages — Pregnancies that end by spontaneous abortion before 20 weeks' gestation and include only those records with diagnoses of ICD-9 634, 636 or 637 that required inpatient care.
Stillbirth — A product of conception of 20 or more weeks. gestation or fetal weight of 500 grams or more, which did not breathe or show other signs of life.
Teenage fetal loss rate — The number of miscarriages plus stillbirths per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.

Materials

• Student worksheet
• Reading selection, including tables, charts/graphs, and appendix from Health Reports
  (see Resources for reading selection)

Resources

• Teenage pregnancies in Health Reports, Winter 2000, Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 82-003-XPB,  Vol. 12 No. 1.
• Teenage pregnancies in Health Reports, Winter 1997, Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 82-003-XPB,  Vol. 9, No. 3.

Classroom instructions

(Duration: approximately 90 minutes)

1. Hand out the following to students:
   1. the student worksheet.
   2. the reading selection (Teenage pregnancies).
   Instruct the students to read the selection, being sure to read the Methods, Definitions, and International sections and examine the included tables and charts/graphs as well as the Appendix (Table A). (Question 1 on the worksheet).
2. Finally, the students will meet in small groups of 3 to 4 members, review their questions/answers together, and draw some logical and accurate conclusions. They will then submit their group's conclusions (questions 4 and 5 on the worksheet).

Evaluation

Mark your students' responses to the question 3 on the student worksheet using these answers:

1. Health related
   1. More likely to have a baby with low birth weights.
   2. More likely to have a baby with health problems.
   3. Pregnant teens at greater risk of health problems
   4. Teens at risk of sexually transmitted infections.
   Non-health related
   1. Loss of educational opportunities.
   2. Loss of job opportunities.
   3. Likelihood of dependance on family or on welfare.
2. It gradually decreased, increased, then decreased since 1994. Answers will vary. There are many factors that may contribute to the trends, such as information about birth control, and sexual activity.
   
3. 26% and 51%
   Again, the effect of possible factors is a matter of opinion. Some that students may think of are the following:
   1. The wish to avoid some of the problems referred to in question i.
   2. Increased availability of abortion.
   3. Decreased stigma associated with abortion.
4. The abortion rate for ages 18 to 19 was the highest of any age group (33.1 per 1,000 vs 13.9 for ages 15 to 17 ), and the pregnancy rate for ages 18 to 19 was 68.9 per thousand compared to 25.5 for ages 15 to 17.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.

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