Morals, values, and religious beliefs play an important role in
teens’ decisions about sex.
In an effort to gauge the nation’s views about
faith institutions, morals, and values--and the role they should
play in helping prevent teen pregnancy--the National Campaign to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy commissioned International Communications
Research to conduct nationally-representative surveys of both adults
(age 18 and over) and teens (age 12-17). The survey makes clear that
morals, values, and religious beliefs play an important role in
teens’ decisions about sex and that a clear majority of adults and
teens believe that churches, synagogues, and other houses of worship
should be doing more to help prevent teen pregnancy. The survey
found three major highlights. The first highlight was that religion
is important. More than eight out of ten adults (86 percent) and
teens (84 percent) say that religion is important in their lives.
Half of teens surveyed (51 percent) said they attend religious
services weekly. The second highlight was that morals, values, and
religious beliefs are important influences on teens, but religious
leaders are less so. When asked what factors most affect their
decisions about whether to have sex, teens cited morals, values,
and/or religious beliefs more than any other source. When asked who
most influences their decisions about sex, teens cited parents by a
wide margin. Only 6 percent of teens surveyed said ministers,
rabbis, and other religious leaders. The third highlight was that
Americans want more involvement from churches and other houses of
worship in teen pregnancy prevention. The overwhelming majority of
adults (75 percent) and teens (72 percent) believe that churches and
other houses of worship should be doing more to help prevent teen
pregnancy. Even those adults (62 percent) and teens (65 percent) who
say they attend religious services infrequently, if at all, believe
that houses of worship should be more involved.1
1Faithful
Nation: What American Adults and Teens Think About Faith, Morals,
Religion, and Teen Pregnancy, The
National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, September 2001, pp.
1-12.
