Payson Teens Having Babies

Payson Roundup - An article on research conducted by Lisa Jackson, Geisel '14, which found that teens attending Payson High School (PHS) in Payson, Ariz., engage in substantially more high-risk behaviors than the national average — and suffer a much higher rate of teen pregnancies. Jackson, who graduated from PHS in 2003, decided to use the school in the final project for her master's degree from the Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel. Jackson compared Payson to a school in Canaan, N.H., which has a similar student and family demographic. However, the New Hampshire school had a comprehensive sex-education program with access to medical services for teens in a pregnancy crisis. At the time, PHS had no sex education program at all. Jackson found the Canaan school had one pregnancy in 10 years, while Payson has two to six teen pregnancies every year.