It would be of far more educational value to the group that was studied and all their peers.
Side note: In the US there are about 750,000 teen pregnancies annually.
> "It would be of far more educational value to the group that was studied and all their peers."
How is that so?
I realize that.
> The point of the study was to examine the relational map within the high school. It was not to examine sexual hygiene of students in the school.
No disagreement there.
>> "It would be of far more educational value to the group that was studied and all their peers." > How is that so?
Because it would show them in a fairly easy to understand graph how STDs spread through such a network.
Having the 'outside world' connected wouldn't hurt either.
These days, getting pregnant is one of the nicest things that can happen. At least it's neither fatal nor contagious...
Don't want to minimize the seriousness of teen pregnancy - it's a really huge problem, but, at least, the baby doesn't kill its host and a couple friends ;-)
And that's why I am a very careful parent. I tell my kids I wish them an uneventful life and death from old age.
Yes, hence my suggestion to ask the question about safe-sex and to add two more sets of dots.
> Don't want to minimize the seriousness of teen pregnancy - it's a really huge problem,
ok
> but, at least, the baby doesn't kill its host
Teen pregnancies are a serious risk to both mother and child.
In developing countries the risks are much higher still.
It is much less rare for a teen-age pregnancy to have complications which may even result in fatalities.
> And that's why I am a very careful parent.
Good :)
> I tell my kids I wish them an uneventful life and death from old age.
Not sure about uneventful, but if by that you mean unscheduled hospital visits then I'm all for it.
Not to minimize the seriousness of STDs, but I'm pretty certain there is a very long laundry list of STDs that have a lower mortality rate than pregnancy.
The best data I could track from the CDC is from 2007:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/womens_health.htm
"In 2007, a total of 548 women were reported to have died of maternal causes (Tables 33 and 34). As in previous years, the number of maternal deaths does not include all deaths occurring to pregnant women, but only those deaths reported on the death certificate that were assigned to causes related to or aggravated by pregnancy or pregnancy management"
"The maternal mortality rate for 2007 was 12.7 deaths per 100,000 live births. Black women have a substantially higher risk of maternal death than white women. The maternal mortality rate for black women was 26.5, roughly 2.7 times the rate for white women (10.0 deaths per 100,000 live births)."
Of course, there are varying rates at different ages, so...
From: http://www.cdc.gov/NCHS/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_19.pdf, Table 11, pg 37+ (unfortunately they don't have a breakout for women at various ages, but I eyeballed Table 12, to see if there was a gender bias and noted)
All Causes for ages 15-24 (all causes 79.9 Deaths per 100,000)
Syphillis: none
HIV: 0.4 (2.5x greater chance for men)
Pregnancy: 0.4 (Always female, so 0.8 per 100,000 for a woman)
Motor Vehicle Accidents: 24.9 (2x Greater chance for men)
Suicide: 9.7 (4x greater chance for men)
Homicide: 13.1 (4x Greater chance for men)
Admittedly, this is just a statistical survey, and actions like proper medical attention can sway these statistics (though that is the case for STDs as well as pregnancy)