Baby Think It Over: using role-play to prevent teen pregnancy

This study examined the effectiveness of Baby Think It Over (BTIO; Jurmaine, 1994), an infant simulation program that seeks to modify attitudes toward teen pregnancy and teen parenting. As in the study by Saltz, Perry, and Cabral (1994), the premise was that teens engage in unprotected sex because of a personal fable concerning pregnancy: "It can't happen to me." It was expected that participation in BTIO, a form of role-play, would encourage teens to acknowledge their own personal vulnerability to an unplanned pregnancy, and provide them with some insight into the experience of adolescent parenting. One hundred fourteen eleventh-grade students participated. After two to three days' experience with BTIO, teens in the intervention group were more likely to accurately assess their personal risk for an unplanned pregnancy than were teens in the comparison group. Qualitative analyses revealed that teens in the intervention group were significantly more likely to produce concrete examples of activities and consequences related to child-rearing than were teens in the comparison group. Findings of this study are discussed from the perspective of the health belief model (Rosenstock, 1974), and suggestions for further research with BTIO are made.