In Celebration of Community Partners in Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month
Although teen pregnancy rates have declined, there is still work to do. Today, 3 out of 10 girls get pregnant by the age of 20 and the U.S. continues to have the highest rates of teen pregnancy among comparable countries (CDC, 2011). 
So we welcome May as Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. And we welcome a time to reflect on what is working to influence the decline, so that we can do more of it. In our eyes, one thing that’s working is the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unintended Pregnancy.
Sponsoring the 10th National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy on May 4th, the National Campaign leveraged the Day and Month to “get the word out” through well placed media and online efforts. But as effective as they were, we also know that knowledge and awareness are not enough to affect behavior. That’s why we want to focus our recognition on the National Campaign’s work in community outreach and their spectacular 200 plus community partners.
Social psychology models of behavior explain human behavior by looking at three factors: personal (awareness and attitudes), social (how people interrelate and the influence of others on one’s behavior) and environmental (over which individuals have little to no control). As evidenced in a recent report from the U.K.’s Central Office of Information (COI), Campaigns that seek to influence behavior “by addressing personal factors alone” are “unlikely to work.” People do not act in isolation, with or without awareness and knowledge. Rather, they act under the powerful influences of “the people around them and the environment in which they live.”
That’s where community organizations have the opportunity to play such a powerful role. Since all behavior change is individual and happens locally, community organizations are positioned to understand and help mitigate the negative influences. And just as the community organizations mentor young teens, the National Campaigns mentors and supports the community organizations so that they can be more successful in their own “back yards.”
Awareness campaigns only set the stage for action. Even on frightening topics like STDs, pregnancy rates, and high school drop out rates, awareness is not enough. As the National Campaign has demonstrated, if national campaigns do not reach into a person’s “back yard” with the help of local community organizations to support healthy behavior, it is unlikely awareness will translate to behavior change. And, so we celebrate community partners in a national awareness month for Teen Pregnancy Prevention!
