The National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

The National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy a Success

Hundreds of thousands of teens nationwide participated in the eighth annual National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The purpose of the National Day is straightforward. Too many teens still think “It can’t happen to me.” The National Day helps teens understand that it can happen to them and that they need to think seriously about what they would do in the moment.
In 2009, more than 450,000 people partipated in online National Day activities—up from 300,000 in 2008. On the National Day, and throughout the entire month of May, teens nationwide were asked to go to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s teen website – StayTeen.org – and take a short, scenario-based quiz (available in English and Spanish). The quiz challenged young people to consider what they would do in a number of sexual situations. National Day Quiz discussion guides for parents and teens were also available and were downloaded thousands of times.
In addition to the National Day Quiz, thousands of teens entered the Stay Teen Relationship Reality Pop Quiz Contest by completing a short quiz about healthy relationships. The quiz application was available as a widget that teens could “grab” and put on their MySpace or Facebook profiles, blogs, and websites.
Each year, we ask teens to tell us what they thought about the National Day Quiz in a post-quiz evaluation survey and many do. Among the findings from this year’s survey:
74% said the Quiz made them think about what they might do in such situations;61% said the Quiz made the risks of sex and teen pregnancy seem more real to them;
56% said they’d learned something new from the Quiz about the consequences of sex;
62% said they’d talk to their friends about the situations described in the Quiz;
53% said the Quiz made them think about things they hadn’t thought about before;
54% said they’d encourage others to take the Quiz;
59% said some of the situations in the Quiz were things that they or their friends had faced; and
45% said they’d talk to their parents or other adults about the situations described in the Quiz.
Additionally, one-helf (50%) of the respondants reported taking the quiz as part of a school activity and 35% said they took the quiz at home. Nearly one-third of teens (31%) learned about the quiz from a parent, teacher, or another trusted adult and more than one-quarter (27%) of teens learned about the quiz from one of our National Day partners.
Partnerships. The National Campaign works with a variety of partners to make the National Day a success year after year.
National Partnerships. National Day partners include a diverse group of media outlets, health sector leaders, education leaders, businesses, youth-serving groups, groups representing elected officials, fatherhood and male involvement groups, faith-based groups, and other prominent national organizations. These groups promote the National Day to their members, affiliates, customers, audiences, and contacts in ways the National Campaign could never have afforded or accomplished on its own. For an up-to-date list of this year's National Day Partners, visit our Partners page.
Media Partnerships. Each year, The National Campaign works with a variety of online and traditional media partners to spread the word about the National Day. Among this year's partners are ABC, ABC Family, NBC, The N, Seventeen, CWtv.com, Maury, and many others. For more information about our National Day media partnerships, visit our Media Partners page.
State and Local Partnerships. The National Day continues to be a remarkable organizing event for states and communities nationwide. To help these state and local promotional efforts, the National Campaign develops and distributes a variety of teen-friendly materials—such as National Day wristbands and pens—to help raise awareness of the National Day among teens and adult professionals who work with teens. For a state-by-state breakdown of National Day activities, please visit our What's Happening in 2009? section. If you are organized a 2009 National Day event and don't see it listed on our site, please tell us about it.