How teen girls think about fertility and the reproductive lifespan. Possible implications for curriculum reform and public health policy

Abstract

Despite an ‘epidemic’ of delayed childbirth in England and Wales beyond a woman's optimally fertile years, research shows that young adults are unaware of or misunderstand the risks regarding starting or extending families that such behaviour entails. Currently, sex education syllabi in British schools neglect these issues, rendering school leavers ignorant of them.These curricula cannot be improved until more is known about adolescents’ knowledge of relevant topics. In the light of this, this article describes exploratory research on how teenage girls in one English school think about the reproductive lifespan. Going beyond recent ‘scientific’ investigations which have mostly only tested the extent of ignorance of young adults, this qualitative enquiry used theories of the life course and emerging adlthood to analyse data gathered in interviews. It sought to understand not only what girls know, but how they apply their knowledge in relation to their assumptions about aging, motherhood, pregnancy, parenting and employment. One finding is highlighted here: that whilst “correct” knowledge about the reproductive lifespan does appear to be held by teenage girls, the ability to apply that knowledge and connect the socio-cultural with the biological domain, may not always be in place. This is relevant for curriculum developers aiming to prepare future citizens to take full control of their reproductive health, and policy makers responsible for ensuring an appropriate public health message about these concerns is available after formal schooling ends.

Keywords::

• Adolescence
• infertility
• pregnancy planning

Declaration of interest: The author reports no declarations of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

¹Detailed discussions and full interview transcripts can be found in F. Kisby Littleton, ‘How do teenage girls in one English school think about fertility and the reproductive lifespan? A small-scale, qualitative enquiry’, MRes dissertation, Institute of Education / University of London International Programmes, 2013. Extracts from transcripts in the present article relate to (p) participant; (t) transcript; (l) line number.