| Abstract: | The rate of teen pregnancy has begun to rise after a decade of steady decline in the United States, signaling a national crisis. While there are many assumed and well-founded factors related to the cause and outcome of teen pregnancy, this paper focuses specifically on the relationship between teen pregnancy, mental health and school services. The purpose of this paper is fourfold: to highlight key mental health and social risk factors and outcomes related to teen pregnancy, to identify intervention strategies that have been found to reduce teen pregnancy, to target the role that school mental health providers can hold in serving students who are at risk for pregnancy, pregnant or parenting, and to identify future directions for research, public policy and school-based services. |
