Hundreds of thousands of teens expected to participate

Press release

Hundreds of thousands of teens nationwide are expected to participate in National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month this May, particularly on the 16th annual National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, taking place today.

The purpose of National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month is to focus the attention of teens on the importance of avoiding too-early pregnancy and parenthood through an interactive online quiz and game.

Throughout the month of May, teens nationwide are asked to visit StayTeen.org and take the National Day Quiz and play Level Up: An Epic Swiping Adventure, two interactive, engaging digital resources that challenge them to think carefully about what they might do “in the moment” though a series of interactive scenarios. The goal of these resources is simple: young people should understand that they have the power to decide if, when, and under what circumstances to become pregnant and that they need to think seriously about what they would do in a stressful moment of peer pressure.

The National Day Quiz and Level Up! game deliver important messages about teen pregnancy prevention, bullying, risky behavior, and challenge teens to think carefully about what they might do “in the moment.”

More than 600,000 teens participated in the National Campaign’s Teen Pregnancy Prevnetion Month activities in 2016 and nearly 6 million individuals have taken the National Day Quiz since it was launched in 2001. Among the findings from a group of teens who participated in the 2015 National Day Quiz:

• 92 percent said the quiz made them think about what they might do in such situations;

• 70 percent said the quiz made the risks of sex and teen pregnancy seem more real to them;

• 67 percent said the quiz made them think about things they hadn’t thought about before;

• 66 percent said they’d talk to their friends and 49 percent said they’d talk to their parents or other adults about the situa- tions described in the quiz;

• 53 percent said they’d learned something new from the quiz about the consequences of sex.

For more information about the National Day and ideas on how to help promote the event, people can go online to TheNationalCampaign.org/event/national-teen-pregnancy-prevention-month.