Top

Published in:

01-02-2021 | Original Paper

Recovering from an Epidemic of Teen Pregnancy: The Role of Rural Faith Leaders in Building Community Resilience

Authors: Becky Taylor, Julie M. Croff, Chandra R. Story, Randolph D. Hubach

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 1/2021

Abstract

This study explores the role of faith leaders and congregations in preventing teen pregnancy and enhancing overall health. Seventeen faith-based leaders responded to an invitation to participate. Participants were recruited from two counties within Oklahoma, based on desired community characteristics. Findings were directly related to: (1) the vulnerability of rural communities to negative health outcomes; (2) resiliency of rural faith communities to address health issues; and (3) the adaptive capacity of rural faith leaders and their communities to decrease teen pregnancy and maximize community health. Culturally relevant public health programming is necessary to engage this at risk population; however, it requires engaging faith leaders in efforts to build congregation-based and community-based capacity.

Ahrold, T. K., Farmer, M., Trapnell, P. D., & Meston, C. M. (2011). The relationship among sexual attitudes, sexual fantasy, and religiosity. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(3), 619–630.PubMed

Baruth, M., Bopp, M., Webb, B. L., & Peterson, J. A. (2015). The role and influence of faith leaders on health-related issues and programs in their congregation. Journal of Religion and Health, 54(5), 1747–1759.PubMed

Blanchard, T. C., Bartkowski, J. P., Matthews, T. L., & Kerley, K. R. (2008). Faith, morality and mortality: The ecological impact of religion on population health. Social Forces, 86(4), 1591–1620.

Boardman, L. A., Allsworth, J., Phipps, M. G., & Lapane, K. L. (2006). Risk factors for unintended versus intended rapid repeat pregnancies among adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 39(4), 597.e591–597.e598.

Boonstra, H. D. (2008). Matter of faith: Support for comprehensive sex education among faith-based organizations. Guttmacher Policy Review, 11(1), 17–22.

Bopp, M., & Fallon, E. A. (2011). Individual and institutional influences on faith-based health and wellness programming. Health Education Research, 26(6), 1107–1119.PubMed

Buhi, E. R., & Goodson, P. (2007). Predictors of adolescent sexual behavior and intention: A theory-guided systematic review. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40(1), 4–21.

Burdette, A. M., Hill, T. D., & Myers, K. (2015). Understanding religious variations in sexuality and sexual health. In J. DeLamater & R. F. Plante (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of sexualities (pp. 349–370). Berlin: Springer.

Chandra, A., Martinez, G. M., Mosher, W. D., Abma, J. C., & Jones, J. (2005). Fertility, family planning, and reproductive health of US women; data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth.

Cohall, K. G., & Cooper, B. S. (2010). Educating American Baptist pastors: A national survey of church leaders. Journal of Research on Christian Education, 19(1), 27–55.

Coles, E., & Buckle, P. (2004). Developing community resilience as a foundation for effective disaster recovery. The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 19(4), 6.

Collins, R. L., Elliott, M. N., Berry, S. H., Kanouse, D. E., Kunkel, D., Hunter, S. B., et al. (2004). Watching sex on television predicts adolescent initiation of sexual behavior. Pediatrics, 114(3), e280–e289.PubMed

Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE.

Coyne-Beasley, T., & Schoenbach, V. J. (2000). The African–American church: A potential forum for adolescent comprehensive sexuality education. Journal of Adolescent Health, 26(4), 289–294.

Cutter, S. L., Barnes, L., Berry, M., Burton, C., Evans, E., Tate, E., et al. (2008). A place-based model for understanding community resilience to natural disasters. Global Environmental Change, 18(4), 598–606.

Donner, W., & Rodríguez, H. (2008). Population composition, migration and inequality: The influence of demographic changes on disaster risk and vulnerability. Social Forces, 87(2), 1089–1114.

Fortenberry, J. D., Schick, V., Herbenick, D., Sanders, S. A., Dodge, B., & Reece, M. (2010). Sexual behaviors and condom use at last vaginal intercourse: A national sample of adolescents ages 14–17 years. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7(s5), 305–314.PubMed

Freedman-Doan, C. R., Fortunato, L., Henshaw, E. J., & Titus, J. M. (2013). Faith-based sex education programs: What they look like and who uses them. Journal of Religion and Health, 52(1), 247–262.PubMed

Garcia, J. R., & Kruger, D. J. (2010). Unbuckling in the Bible Belt: Conservative sexual norms lower age at marriage. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 4(4), 206.

Grammich, C., Hadaway, K., Houseal, R., Jones, D. E., Krindatch, A., Stanley, R., & Taylor, R. H. (2010). U.S. religion census: Religious congregations and membership study. Retrieved February 28, 2019 http://www.usreligioncensus.org/.

Grose, R. G., Grabe, S., & Kohfeldt, D. (2014). Sexual education, gender ideology, and youth sexual empowerment. The Journal of Sex Research, 51(7), 742–753.PubMed

Haffner, D. W. (2011). Dearly beloved: Sexuality education in faith communities. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 6(1), 1–6.

Hancock, T. (2001). People, partnerships and human progress: Building community capital. Health Promotion International, 16(3), 275–280.PubMed

Hull, S. J., Hennessy, M., Bleakley, A., Fishbein, M., & Jordan, A. (2011). Identifying the causal pathways from religiosity to delayed adolescent sexual behavior. Journal of Sex Research, 48(6), 543–553.PubMedPubMedCentral

Kegler, M. C., Hall, S. M., & Kiser, M. (2010). Facilitators, challenges, and collaborative activities in faith and health partnerships to address health disparities. Health Education & Behavior, 37(5), 665–679.

Kim, N. (2012). How much more exposed are the poor to natural disasters? Global and regional measurement. Disasters, 36(2), 195–211.PubMed

Kohler, P. K., Manhart, L. E., & Lafferty, W. E. (2008). Abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education and the initiation of sexual activity and teen pregnancy. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42(4), 344–351.

Kost, K., & Henshaw, S. (2014). US teenage pregnancies, births and abortions, 2010: National and state trends by age, race and ethnicity. New York: Guttmacher Institute.

Kozhimannil, K. B., Enns, E., Blauer-Peterson, C., Farris, J., Kahn, J., & Kulasingam, S. (2015). Behavioral and community correlates of adolescent pregnancy and Chlamydia rates in rural counties in Minnesota. Journal of Community Health, 40(3), 493–500.PubMedPubMedCentral

Lindberg, L. D., & Maddow-Zimet, I. (2012). Consequences of sex education on teen and young adult sexual behaviors and outcomes. Journal of Adolescent Health, 51(4), 332–338.

Macinko, J., & Starfield, B. (2001). The utility of social capital in research on health determinants. The Milbank Quarterly, 79(3), 387–427.PubMedPubMedCentral

Manlove, J. S., Terry-Humen, E., Ikramullah, E. N., & Moore, K. A. (2006). The role of parent religiosity in teens’ transitions to sex and contraception. Journal of Adolescent Health, 39(4), 578–587.

Meade, C. S., Kershaw, T. S., & Ickovics, J. R. (2008). The intergenerational cycle of teenage motherhood: An ecological approach. Health Psychology, 27(4), 419.PubMed

Norris, F. H., Stevens, S. P., Pfefferbaum, B., Wyche, K. F., & Pfefferbaum, R. L. (2008). Community resilience as a metaphor, theory, set of capacities, and strategy for disaster readiness. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41(1–2), 127–150.PubMed

O’Mara-Eves, A., Brunton, G., Oliver, S., Kavanagh, J., Jamal, F., & Thomas, J. (2015). The effectiveness of community engagement in public health interventions for disadvantaged groups: A meta-analysis. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 129.PubMedPubMedCentral

O’Mara-Eves, A., Brunton, G., Kavanagh, J., Jamal, F., & Thomas, J. (2012). Community engagement in public health interventions to reduce health inequalities: Mapping the evidence against policy objectives. The Lancet, 380(3), S59.

Penman-Aguilar, A., Carter, M., Snead, M. C., & Kourtis, A. P. (2013). Socioeconomic disadvantage as a social determinant of teen childbearing in the US. Public Health Reports, 128(2_suppl1), 5–22.PubMedPubMedCentral

Pew Research Center. (2014). 2014 Religious Landscape Study (RLS-II). Washington, DC. Retrieved from https://pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/05/RLS-II-FINAL-TOPLINE-FOR-FIRST-RELEASE.pdf. Accessed 05 May 2018.

Piotrowski, Z. H., & Hedeker, D. (2016). Evaluation of the be the exception sixth-grade program in rural communities to delay the onset of sexual behavior. American Journal of Public Health, 106(S1), S132–S139.PubMedPubMedCentral

Rodgers, K. B., & McGuire, J. K. (2012). Adolescent sexual risk and multiple contexts: Interpersonal violence, parenting, and poverty. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(11), 2091–2107.PubMed

Rosenbaum, J. E. (2009). Patient teenagers? A comparison of the sexual behavior of virginity pledgers and matched nonpledgers. Pediatrics, 123(1), e110–e120.PubMed

Rosenbaum, J. E., & Weathersbee, B. (2013). True love waits: Do Southern Baptists? Premarital sexual behavior among newly married Southern Baptist Sunday school students. Journal of Religion and Health, 52(1), 263–275.PubMed

Rothman, J. (1995). Approaches to community intervention. Strategies of Community Intervention, 5, 26–63.

Santana, M. C., Raj, A., Decker, M. R., La Marche, A., & Silverman, J. G. (2006). Masculine gender roles associated with increased sexual risk and intimate partner violence perpetration among young adult men. Journal of Urban Health, 83(4), 575–585.PubMedPubMedCentral

Santelli, J. S., Kantor, L. M., Grilo, S. A., Speizer, I. S., Lindberg, L. D., Heitel, J., et al. (2017). Abstinence-only-until-marriage: An updated review of US policies and programs and their impact. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(3), 273–280.

Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-only education and teen pregnancy rates: Why we need comprehensive sex education in the US. PLoS ONE, 6(10), e24658.PubMedPubMedCentral

Tettey, N.-S., Duran, P. A., Andersen, H. S., Washington, N., & Boutin-Foster, C. (2016). “It’s like backing up science with scripture”: Lessons learned from the implementation of HeartSmarts, a faith-based cardiovascular disease health education program. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(3), 1078–1088.PubMed

Tolman, D. L. (2009). Dilemmas of desire: Teenage girls talk about sexuality. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

US Department of Health and Human Services. (2015). Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) resource center: evidence based programs. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/oah-initiatives/teen_pregnancy/db/tpp-searchable.html.

Viner, R. M., Ozer, E. M., Denny, S., Marmot, M., Resnick, M., Fatusi, A., et al. (2012). Adolescence and the social determinants of health. The Lancet, 379(9826), 1641–1652.

Wallerstein, N., & Duran, B. (2010). Community-based participatory research contributions to intervention research: The intersection of science and practice to improve health equity. American Journal of Public Health, 100(S1), S40–S46.PubMedPubMedCentral

Yarbrough, S. A. (2000). Southern Baptists: A historical, ecclesiological, and theological heritage of a confessional people. Nashville: Southern Baptist Historical Society.

Title: Recovering from an Epidemic of Teen Pregnancy: The Role of Rural Faith Leaders in Building Community Resilience
Authors: Becky Taylor
Julie M. Croff
Chandra R. Story
Randolph D. Hubach
Publication date: 01-02-2021
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 1/2021
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00863-1

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Recovering from an Epidemic of Teen Pregnancy: The Role of Rural Faith Leaders in Building Community Resilience

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2021

Correction to: Association of Death Anxiety with Spiritual Well‑Being and Religious Coping in Older Adults During the COVID‑19 Pandemic

Determination of Intercultural Sensitivity Among Nurses

Cultural Viewpoints of Nursing Students on Patient Privacy: A Qualitative Study

The Effect of Spirituality Intervention on the Anxiety Parents of Hospitalized Newborns in a Neonatal Department

Relationship Between Fear of Childbirth and Psychological and Spiritual Well-Being in Pregnant Women

Transcultural Nurses’ Caring for Pilgrims for the First Time During Hajj Season in Saudi Arabia