Editor’s Note: This article is co-authored by Tracy Diggs Lunoff [8], Health Coordinator for the Austin Independent School District, Susan McDowell [9], Executive Director, LifeWorks, and Sarah Wheat [6], Interim Co-CEO, Planned Parenthood of Texas Capital Region in support of their collaborative teen education program, Real Talk.
Think fast. Every day people make decisions that have dramatic results or consequences—a surgeon makes an incision, air traffic control directs a 757, a minivan pulls out on Highway 360. We make millions of decisions, from mundane to life-changing, often within a matter of seconds.
The children and teens of Generation Z are facing those decisions while also navigating the swampy mess of adolescence that suddenly includes texting, Facebook and Twitter. Technology and our increasingly fast-paced world are changing the way our children develop relationships, gain information, establish values and choose their paths. As moms, we see this first-hand with our own children.
And no matter what generation you consider—boomer, x, y, gap or millennial—when you mix relationships, decision-making and teenagers you are looking at the potential for risky behavior, sometimes with lifelong consequences. For too many teens, that mixture results in an unplanned pregnancy. In fact, every ten minutes, a teenager in Texas gets pregnant.
Austin’s economic vitality, health and welfare in the next decade will depend greatly on two things: 1) how well Gen Zers develop their relationship skills and set goals for themselves and 2) how well adults provide Gen Zers with information so that they can make good decisions.
That’s why AISD [10], LifeWorks [11] and Planned Parenthood [7] have come together to help Generation Z navigate adolescence in ways that develop positive relationships and make choices that promote the health of our entire community—as well as of future generations.
Babies having babies
Teenage pregnancy is not a new problem but it has the potential to rise or decline dramatically with Gen Z, depending on how we, as a community, approach the issue.
The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate compared to similar countries. In 2008, the U.S. teen birth rate was almost twice as high as the United Kingdom’s and more than three times higher than Canada's.
Texas ranks as one of the top three states with the highest teen birth rates. Perhaps even more alarming, Texas is Number One in the repeat teen birth rate.
Costs of teen pregnancy
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy estimated that the cost to U.S. taxpayers of teen childbearing is more than $9 billion per year; the estimated annual public cost for the state of Texas alone is $1 billion. Those costs include health care, increased child welfare costs, increased costs of incarceration and lost revenue due to lower taxes paid by the children of teen mothers over their own adult lifetimes as a result of lower education levels and earnings.
It's not just the lives of the mothers that are affected, but the next generation they produce. A new analysis [12] indicates that children two years old who were born as the result of an unplanned pregnancy had significantly lower cognitive test scores when compared to children born as the result of an intended pregnancy. They also have lower vocabulary scores and reduced levels of educational attainment. This could be attributed to the lack of preconception and prenatal care that teen mothers receive, both of which in turn often result in low birth weights.
A train bearing down the tracks
Overall, Texas is experiencing a population boom, with children representing a larger proportion of that growth than in other states. Between 1990 and 2005, the number of Texas children grew from just under five million to almost six million. Demographers estimate that, by 2015, there will be almost seven million children in Texas. The rate of poverty among these children is also increasing swiftly, as is the proportion of Hispanic children. Learn more [13] about the impact of ethnicity on teen pregnancy rates.
Unless we can help these children learn to make wise decisions and develop healthy relationships, even if we continue at the same rate of teen pregnancy, the impact on our population growth will be staggering.
The influences on healthy relationships among teens and children are evolving almost faster than we can track—or than teens can reasonably keep up with.
Social networks, texting and media inundation are changing the way relationships and interactions occur among everyone. For those of us "ancients" who were born in a non-digital world, it is likely that we were grounded at some point in our lives in direct interpersonal communication. We learned to adopt technology to interpersonal communications and used it as a tool to help us navigate reams of information.
But the children of Generation Z were born into an already wired world, where all relationships could, if allowed, occur entirely in a digital world and face-to-face, complex, nuanced conversations may go the way of the dinosaur.
Teens communicate through sound bites, tweets and even abbreviations, sending an average of more than 80 texts per day in 2009 (it is likely double that number now). And there is more information—from data to advertising and marketing—readily available at their fingertips without context, verification or qualification. Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets are a primary way that relationships develop—and end—for this generation.
This all adds up to more children than we've ever had before in our state making a lot of choices very quickly about everything, with potentially limited or inaccurate information.
Stopping an explosion
It's hard enough for teens to navigate their world and make mundane choices in this new digital world. Add sex into the mix and teenagers are navigating risky terrain.
We cannot expect them to be able to make ideal decisions when it comes to sex if we don't give them the right information, tools and support. If we fail to do that, sex will become another decision handled like most others—quickly and instantly—without necessarily understanding the full consequences.
The "Real Talk" program, conducted in partnership with AISD, LifeWorks and Planned Parenthood, is helping teens develop a foundation to know themselves and build healthy relationships so that, when a split second decision has to be made, it's a positive one. The program requires honest and respectful conversations between a teen and a parent, helping them set short- and long-term goals for their lives.
"Real Talk" uses two distinct curriculums: one for middle school (Gen Z) and one for high school students.
"It's your Game, Keep it Real," a middle school program, helps young teens make good choices based on their own values and beliefs versus their peers'. The program addresses sexual health but, most fundamentally, works to help youth develop healthy relationships and set personal goals. For example, a section called "Play by Your Rules," coaches students to identify their own values, what is important to them and how to live according to these values.
Students engage in role playing and group work to address the real concerns teens have today and rehearse situations to help them gain skills that can be used in sensitive situations. It also incorporates a gaming component that this generation is familiar with and drawn to, enabling anonymous pre- and post-testing and delivering immediate, accurate information to students.
At the high school level, the "Reducing the Risk" curriculum centers on the individual with a long view of the future. Many of our youth have lost the art of goal setting. It's very hard for teens to think beyond the immediate. Students need help to foresee 'if I get pregnant, how will that impact my short- and long-term goals?' This curriculum builds these critical skills directly.
Carrying on the conversation
Finally, both the middle and high school programs include the vital ingredient of parental involvement. Whether teens want to admit it or not, teens still want to hear from their parents about sex and what decisions they should be making. Eight in ten teens (80 percent) say that it would be much easier for teens to delay sexual activity and avoid teen pregnancy if they were able to have more open, honest conversations about these topics with their parents. (Source: With One Voice 2010:
America's Adults and Teens Sound Off About Teen Pregnancy [14]).
Parental permission is required for teens to participate in "Real Talk," and parents are required to complete homework with their teen to get the conversation started. The continuum of the parent-student conversation is critical to success.
It is AISD's job to educate our children and help them reach their goals, whatever they are. It is the parents' job to help develop their children's values and morals. If the communication gap continues to widen and there is no conversation about sex, money and morals, all they have is just tweets and texts. Students will eventually detach completely from the home family and attach to the Facebook family.
At its core, "Real Talk" opens the door for conversations that we must have with our teens to help them make decisions that benefit themselves as well as our community. If we start these conversations with Generation Z, imagine the potential for a generation of healthy, informed teens who can realize their dreams—and create future generations that are reaching their fullest potential.