Teen Pregnancy Rates

Since 1991, U.S. teen pregnancy rates have been declining. Trends have shown a steady reduction in teen birth rates for all 50 states.

Rates have declined for all adolescent age groups, for all racial and ethnic groups and for

both first and second births to teens. Although these rates are decreasing, they still remain among the highest in the industrialized world, and birth rates for Hispanic, American Indian, and black teens continue to be substantially higher than those for non-Hispanic white and Asian or Pacific Island Youth.

Thus, the need to continue adolescent pregnancy prevention efforts must not be underestimated.

Problem Statement Adolescent pregnancy prevention programs are all focused on the same

basic principle: change adolescents' behavior. However, it is important to realize these efforts are being carried out with very minimal funding. How can behavior change happen, specifically on a larger scale, if there is little to no funding available to support it? Social marketing, the approach of helping to

change behavior as well as social and cultural norms, does not rely heavily on monetary assets.

Social Marketing

In brief, social marketing is the application of commercial marketing techniques to social problems. For example, social marketing takes the same principles used in selling goods for the benefit of the marketer and uses these principles to convince people to change their behavior for the benefit of he individual and society as a whole.

Why This Approach? Social marketing can most easily be

compared to business marketing. Successful business marketing campaigns have helped companies make millions