Safe sex facing multiple barriers.

• Position: Teenage Pregnancy

The main barriers to safe sex practices among teenagers include lack of access and misinformation about birth control, embarrassment when purchasing condoms, and legal restrictions requiring them to get parental consent to access reproductive services, relates a study from the University of Texas, Austin, which also found that, when asked about how to reduce the teen birth rate, teenagers and parents recommended increased, open, and honest communication about sex in their communities through comprehensive sex education, including discussion of contraception methods and information about available sexual and reproductive health resources.

Texas has the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation, 85 per 1,000 females aged 15-19, ranking behind only New Mexico and Mississippi.

This study was a collaborative effort by youth-serving professionals to understand what is happening around teen pregnancy prevention," says Monica Faulkner, associate director of the Child & Family Research Institute at the School of Social Work and principal investigator on the study.

"Most everyone has assumptions about teen sexuality and teen pregnancy prevention, but the reality is that we have to understand the issue in order to best utilize our resources."

A majority of teenagers were in support of birth control use, and all teens reported having received some type of information on sex education topics--the most common was "how to say no to sex" and "the importance of using birth control if you have sex." They cited condoms as the most-common method to...