SAU Honors College

The SAU Honors College was founded in 2003 by Dr. David Rankin, president of SAU. Dr. Lynne Belcher served as founding director and is retired from SAU. The Honors College seeks and admits qualified students who seek to pursue a serious academic program with equally gifted peers and committed teachers. Honors classes are small and provide academically enriching opportunities for students and the faculty who teach them. Currently, SAU enrolls nearly 170 honors students and graduates about 66% of admitees in four years or less. Anyone interested in applying to the Honors College or seeking further information should contact the director, Dr. Edward P. Kardas at epkardas@saumag.edu or at 870 904-8897.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Terry, Colin: Teens and Contraception


            Recently, an issue with unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers has arisen. Each day, more and more cases of each are reported due to the lack of use of contraceptive techniques in teenagers.
            As article writer Milly Dawson notes, a recent study by the Journal of Adolescent Health found that parents of teenage girls nowadays would rather see their children being offered short-term contraceptive methods, rather than the long-term, more effective methods. This study involved a phone survey that involved determining parents’ attitudes and behavior to the types of contraception. It seems that the more accepting parents are of their daughter’s autonomy, the more accepting they are to the more effective, long-term types of contraception. This study stated that IUDs are the most effective way to prevent teen pregnancy, but it is not the most accepted by the parents of teens.
            According to an updated clinical opinion from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, IUDs have the highest effective rate of preventing unwanted pregnancy. The opinion also states that as teenage sexual intercourse rates increase, so must the use of the long-term IUDs. The teenage generation currently mostly believes that condoms and other short-term forms of contraception are the way to go. Charles Bankhead of MedPage Today writes that the awareness and availability of the long-term IUDs is low. Meaning, teenagers today are way more prone to know about the short-term methods of contraception rather than the long-term methods.  Bankhead also writes that the easiest way for teenagers to get their hands on the long-term contraception would definitely be a public clinic.
            Overall, the authors Milly Dawson and Charles Bankhead have very similar finds in their articles. If teens become more aware and parents accept more the idea of IUDs, the levels of teen pregnancy should decline.

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