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Across the United States, young people are at risk for unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV. Arizona’s teen pregnancy rate is higher than the national average, and young minority women had disproportionately high birth rates. Men who have sex with men are at the highest risk for HIV in Arizona, but African American/black women suffer at rates vastly disproportionate to population. Young people have higher rates of sexually transmitted infection than any other age group in Arizona. Because the risk for negative sexual health outcomes is a reality, comprehensive sexuality education and access to contraception are more important than ever to the health of Arizona’s youth.

Arizona’s Youth Population: Diverse and Growing Quickly

• Over a quarter of Arizona’s population is under age eighteen; over 367,000 youth ages 15-19 live in Arizona.[1]
• The majority of Arizona’s adolescent population is white, and almost thirty percent of Arizona’s citizens are of Hispanic origin. African Americans make up three percent, American Indians/Native Alaskans five percent, and Asians/Pacific Islanders (APIs) 2.4 percent.[1]
• Arizona’s population is growing quickly and has almost doubled since 1990.[1]

Arizona’s Youth Are At Higher Than Average Risk for Unsafe Sex

• Of high school students, 43 percent in Arizona reported ever having sex, and 47 percent nationwide.[2,3]
• Of those who reported being sexually active, fifty-five percent of Arizona youth reported using a condom at last intercourse, compared to 68 percent nationwide.[2,3]
• Of those who reported being sexually active, 15 percent reported using birth control pills, compared to 18 percent nationwide.[2,3]
• According to the Guttmacher Institute, almost 84,000 Arizonan young women ages 13-19 need publicly funded contraceptive supplies and services.[4]

Arizona’s Minority Youth Suffer Increased Rates of Teen Pregnancy

• Arizona has the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. Arizona’s teen pregnancy rate is 104 pregnancies per 1000 young women ages 15-19, significantly higher than the national rate of 84 pregnancies per thousand.[5]
• Between 1992-2000, Arizona’s teen pregnancy rate dropped by 22 percent, slightly less than the nationwide drop of 24 percent.[5]
• Between 1991 and 2005 the teen birth rate dropped 27 percent, less than the nationwide drop of 34 percent.[5]
• The teen birth rate rose significantly for young Asian/Pacific Islander women between 1990 and 2005 – a 31 percent increase compared to a 36 percent decrease for young API women nationwide.[5]
• Young minority women had disproportionately high teen birth rates. Compared to young white women,
  • Young black women were twice as likely to give birth
  • Young American Indians/Alaska Native young women were three times as likely to give birth
  • Young Hispanic/Latino women were four times as likely to give birth.[5]
• Young Hispanic/Latino women experienced more than half of the births to teenagers in Arizona.[5]

HIV Disproportionately Affects Minorities in Arizona

• Over ten thousand people in Arizona are living with HIV.[6]
• In 2005, the rate of new diagnoses of HIV was four times as high among African Americans/Blacks in Arizona.[6]
• Young African American/black women are especially at risk: the HIV rate among African American/black women is eight times the state rate and fifteen times the rate for white women.[6]
• Because Hispanic/Latino young people are less likely to be insured and more likely to live in medically underserved areas, it is believed that HIV infection may be severely underreported for this population.[6]
• Men who have sex with men account for the majority of HIV infections in Arizona (59 percent), while heterosexual sex and intravenous drug use account for ten percent and thirteen percent respectively.[6]

Arizona’s Youth, Especially Young Women, Are At Risk for STIs

• Youth ages 15-24 experienced more than one-half of the total number of Chlamydia cases in Arizona in 2006.[7]
• Youth ages 15-24 experienced more than one-half of the total number of Gonorrhea cases in Iowa in 2006.[7]
• In this age range, young women were most at risk for STIs, experiencing 80 percent of Chlamydia infections and 56 percent of gonorrhea infections.[7]

Sex Education and the Censoring Influence of Abstinence-Only Funding

• Arizona’s abstinence-only programs received almost $5 million in 2006: over $1 million in federal Title V funding in 2006 matched with $1 million in state funds, and an additional $2.8 million in Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) funding. In 2007 Arizona received an additional $1.2 million in CBAE funding.[8,9]
• Arizona schools are not required by law to teach sexuality education, but if they choose to, must stress abstinence and may not promote a “homosexual lifestyle,” portray “homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style,” or “suggest that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”[8]
• Arizona parents must give written permission for their students to receive sexuality education; sexuality education must take up a limited amount of time, occur in gender-divided classrooms, and contain no discussion questions about the students’ or parents’ values.[8]
• Evaluation of Arizona’s abstinence-only programs found that students viewed contraception and condoms less favorably after participation, and that 47 percent reported they would likely become sexually active in the next year.[10]
• In January of 2008, Arizona’s Governor Janet Napolitano rejected Title V funding, saying that “teenagers need to have complete information for their own health.”[11]

Conclusion

Arizona’s youth are at serious risk for pregnancy, HIV, and STIs; youth of color are at disproportionate risk for negative sexual health outcomes. Research shows that comprehensive sexuality education and access to contraceptive services can help young people protect their health and well-being.[12] Further, there are a number of culturally relevant science-based programs than can successfully assist youth of color to reduce sexual risk taking.[13]

References

1. U.S. Census Bureau Public Information Office. “Census 2000 Data for the State of Arzona.” Accessed from http://www.census.gov/census2000/states/az.html on March 1, 2008.
2. Arizona Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Program. “2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results: Arizona (Including Charter Schools) High School Survey.” Accessed from http://www.azrapeprevention.org/statistics/2005AZYRBS/
   2005YRBSTrendReport.pdf on March 1, 2008.
3. Eaton DK et al. Youth risk behavior surveillance, United States, 2005. Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 2006;55(SS-5):1–108.
4. Guttmacher Institute. “Contraception Counts:Arizona.” Accessed from http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/state_data/states/arizona.html on March 1, 2008
5. National Campaign to End Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. “State Profile: Arizona.” Accessed from http://www.teenpregnancy.org/america/stateSummary.asp?stateId=3 on March 1, 2008.
6. Arizona Department of Health Services, Office of HIV/AIDS. “Integrated Epidemic Profile.” September 2005. Accessed from http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/hiv/pdf/integrtd_epi_prof.pdf on March 1, 2008.
7. Arizona Department of Health Services, Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Program. “The Impact of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea in Adolescents, 2006.” Accessed from http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/oids/pdf/STDsAmongArizonaYouth2006.pdf on March 1, 2008.
8. SIECUS Public Policy Office. “State Profile: Arizona.” Sexuality Education and Information Council of the United States, 2007. Accessed from http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&parentID=487&grandparentID
   =478&pageId=532 on March 1, 2008.
9. Family Youth and Services Bureau. “Discretionary Grant Programs.” Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008. Accessed from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/content/docs/07
   _grantawards.pdf on March 1, 2008.
10. LeCroy & Milligan Associates, Final Report, Arizona Abstinence Education Program Evaluation, 1998-2003 (Phoenix, AZ: Arizona Dept. of Health Services, Office of Women’s and Children’s Health, June 2003): 4-12, accessed March 1, 2008 from http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/owch/pdf/abstinence_final_report2003.pdf.
11. Crawford, Amanda. “Napolitano: Abstinence Funds Were Not Worth It.” Arizona Republic, January 26, 2008. Accessed from http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0126abstinence0126.html (no longer available) on March 20, 2008.
12. Kirby D. Emerging Answers 2007.. Washington, DC: The National Campaign, 2007 to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Accessed from http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/EA2007/EA2007_sum.pdf on March 1, 2008.
13. Alford S. Science and Success: Sex Education and Other Programs That Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infections. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2003.

Written by Emily Bridges, MLS
2008 © Advocates for Youth