KINGSTON, Ont. – Parents may want to recap discussions of the birds and the bees with their high school students prior to spring break in light of new study results on teen pregnancies.
Researchers who conducted the study in the Kingston, Ont., area say they have found the relative likelihood of conceiving in the month of March is higher for school-aged adolescents than adults.
“This adolescent pregnancy peak may be explained by biological reasons such as variations in fertility over the course of a calendar year, but it’s also possible that this increased conception rate in March is because of spring break,” Mary Anne Jamieson, study co-author and an associate professor in the departments of obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics, said Wednesday in a statement.
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For the study, conducted at Kingston General Hospital, the researchers looked at all 838 adolescent pregnancies that occurred in the area over five years and compared the conception rates per month with a random sample of 838 adult conceptions that occurred over the same time period.
While more adults conceive overall during the month of March, a larger relative percentage of adolescent pregnancies are conceived at this time compared to adult pregnancies.
This peak in adolescent conceptions coincides with the weeklong break given to Ontario high school students.
“If spring break is the reason behind this upswing in adolescent pregnancies then perhaps just before the vacation would be a good time for a proactive burst of family planning information and access, so teenagers head off for the holiday with contraception awareness and positive sexual health strategies fresh in their minds,” said Jamieson.
The results will be published in a future issue of the Journal of Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology.
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