An evaluation of California's Adolescent Sibling Pregnancy Prevention Program.

CONTEXT The siblings of adolescents who have been pregnant or are parents have disproportionately high rates of teenage pregnancies and births. California's Adolescent Sibling Pregnancy Prevention Program is targeted at these high-risk youths. METHODS An evaluation of the program was conducted in 1997-1999 with 1,176 predominantly Hispanic 11-17-year-olds who had at least one sibling who was an adolescent parent or had been pregnant--731 youths who were program clients and 445 youths who received no systematic services. All evaluation participants completed an interview and questionnaire at enrollment and again nine months later. RESULTS Female program clients had a significantly lower pregnancy rate than comparison females over the evaluation period (4% vs. 7%), as well as a lower rate of sexual initiation (7% vs. 16%). They also significantly decreased their frequency of school truancy, whereas this outcome increased among comparison females; program females had significantly more definite intentions of remaining abstinent at posttest than comparison females. Consistency of contraceptive use increased over time among males in the program and decreased among comparison males. Delivery of group services was correlated with delayed onset of intercourse among males, and the receipt of services related to psychosocial skills was correlated with greater contraceptive use at last sex among all sexually experienced youth. CONCLUSIONS This new program, which serves a population known to be at very high risk for early pregnancy, appears to be effective at reducing rates of pregnancy and improving several pregnancy-related risk behaviors.