Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114840

Leah Phillips, BS, Jennifer Purcell, MA, and Alice Richman, MPH, BA. College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 56, Tampa, FL 33612, 813-971-2119 x101, lphilli1@hsc.usf.edu

A review of German and U.S. reproductive health outcomes for adolescents reveals more favorable outcomes for the German population. The U.S. teen pregnancy rate is the highest among all industrialized nations, and is nearly five times greater than that of Germany. The prevalence of HIV is further evidence of this disparity with rates for individuals between ages 15 and 24 years in the U.S. at least five times greater than in Germany. Similarly, the gonorrhea rate for the U.S. is between 38 and 66 times that of Germany. This presentation describes these and other national differences and offers an integrated ecological model to help explain this health outcome gap between adolescents in these two developed countries. The ecological model is comprised of three elements depicting a reciprocal relationship between health outcomes and the environment. Elements include: 1) culture, family and the media, 2) policy, and 3) sexuality education. All three elements must be present, and in theory, the greater their presence, the more favorable are the resulting outcomes. In contrast to the U.S., Germany has embraced the elements that comprise the model. However, little research has been done to measure the effect of any one of these elements on outcomes, nor the combination of the three factors. As the U.S. continues to use Healthy People 2010 as the gold standard of the nation's health, it is imperative that educators and policy makers explore the confluence of these three components to more favorably impact reproductive health outcomes of adolescents.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe an ecological model for positive reproductive health outcomes.
• Articulate elements of the model to facilitate advocacy and policy change.
• Understand and articulate the disparity between U.S. and German reproductive health outcomes.
• Identify the use of the model in future efforts to improve reproductive health outcomes.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Reproductive Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.