Teen-by-Default

C. Parks, J. Peipert

Significant public health disparities exist surrounding teen and unplanned pregnancy in the U.S. Women of color and those with lower education and socioeconomic status are at much greater risk of unplanned pregnancy and the resulting adverse outcomes. Unplanned pregnancies reduce educational and career opportunities and may contribute to socioeconomic deprivation and widening income disparities. Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), including intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, offer the opportunity to change the default from drifting into parenthood to planned conception. LARC methods are forgettable; once placed they offer highly effective, long-term pregnancy prevention. Increasing evidence in the medical literature demonstrates the population benefits of use of these methods. However, barriers to more widespread use of LARC methods persist, and include educational, access, and cost barriers. With increasing insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, and more widespread, no-cost coverage of methods, more and more women are choosing IUDs and the contraceptive implant. Increasing the use of highly effective contraceptive methods may provide one solution to the persistent problem of the health disparities of unplanned and teen pregnancies in the U.S., and improve women and children's health.

R. Kaiser, M. Kang, Yechan Lew, J. Van Der Feen, B. Aguirre, R. Clegg, F. Goer, Erika C. Esposito, R. Auerbach, R. Hutchison, D. Pizzagalli

Paulette M. Rothbauer

Situated in a review of rural, cultural, and youth geographies, this article reports on a qualitative study of the role of reading and libraries in the lives of older rural teenagers. The primary method of data collection was the use of in‐depth, flexibly structured interviews with twenty‐seven youth between the ages of fifteen and nineteen years, supplemented with data from unobtrusive observation and environmental scanning in a specific geographic locale. Four themes are discussed: the habitual, quotidian reading of teenagers; the shifting visibility of the public library; the Internet and the World Wide Web as a default reading site; and the temporal constraints on reading for pleasure. With the use of ideas informed by cultural geography, the space of nonactive teen readers and the placelessness of reading are explored.

Barry C. Feld

C. Stevens-Simon, J. Sheeder