Tennessee

Teen pregnancy and STI rates show Tennessee has a sex ed health crisis

Published

11 months ago

January 22, 2024

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Teen pregnancy and STI rates show Tennessee has a sex ed health crisis

If more schools participated in teaching medically accurate information about these topics, Tennessee would reduce teen pregnancies and sexually-trasmitted infections.

Nikita Bastin, Avery Bogart, Zoe Finer, Jeewoo Kim and Jessie Sims
| Guest Columnists

Nikita Bastin, Avery Bogart, Zoe Finer, Jeewoo Kim and Jessie Sims are medical students in Nashville.

Sex education is not mandated in Tennessee public schools, and if schools decide to provide education, the curriculum is not required to be comprehensive.

The only exception is for schools located in counties where the pregnancy rate exceeds 19.5/1,000 for females aged 15-17, which by 2018 data, includes at least 20 counties in our state.

These schools are only required to teach a family life education program, which must promote topics like abstinence and reserving the expression of sexual activity for marriage. Despite being a harm reduction method, contraceptive options such as condoms and oral contraceptive pills are not required to be taught. Instead, schools are required to inform students about the process and benefits of adoption.

Additionally, in these counties, parents and guardians have the option to remove their children from any type of sexual education curriculum, and as of 2021 this includes LGBTQ-related instruction.

Tennessee ranks near the bottom of state on key indicators

Teen sexual health in Tennessee lags behind other states. In Tennessee, only 32.2% of high schools taught students all 20 critical sexual health education topics outlined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as compared to 33% of schools in Georgia and 65.9% of schools in California.

Tennessee is ranked 44th out of the 50 states in rates of teen pregnancy at 21.5 per thousand, with the national average being 13.5 per thousand. Georgia is not far behind at 36th and California is ranked 12th.

Increased rates of teen pregnancy are strongly correlated with higher rates of unemployment, leaving school before completion of a high school degree, and poverty. Teen pregnancies are also associated with worse maternal health outcomes including increased risk for maternal depression and intimate partner violence in the pregnancy periods.

The harms of inadequate sexual education for teens are not limited to unplanned pregnancies. One in six high school-aged females reported intimate partner violence in 2019, which is the highest across the U.S. and is nearly double the national average.

As of 2021, the average number of teens ages 15-17 who were diagnosed with chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis, all sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), was 16.6 per 1,000. These adverse events associated with poor teen sexual health education demonstrate the need for a more robust education approach in Tennessee.

Why holistic sex education benefits young people

Comprehensive sex education is associated with numerous health benefits for teenagers. According to a study conducted at New York University, increased federal funding for more comprehensive sex education led to a 3% reduction in teen pregnancies at the county level.

Furthermore, a landmark CDC study investigated the relationship between comprehensive risk reduction programs, abstinence education programs, and risk of adolescent pregnancy, HIV, and STI’s.

The study found that comprehensive risk reduction programs were effective in reducing both teen pregnancy rates and the acquisition of STIs.

A number of other studies have also shown that abstinence-only programs are ineffective at reducing both teen pregnancy and STI risk.

Thus, even if sexual education curricula are not required by state law, more schools that participate in teaching medically accurate information about these topics will reduce teen pregnancies and STIs.

Nikita Bastin, Avery Bogart, Zoe Finer, Jeewoo Kim and Jessie Sims are medical students in Nashville. The views expressed by the authors are personal in nature and are not intended to represent the views of their institution.

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Tennessee

Tennessee DB Christian Harrison, son of NFL great Rodney Harrison, enters transfer portal

Published

4 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee DB Christian Harrison, son of NFL great Rodney Harrison, enters transfer portal

Tennessee defensive back Christian Harrison, the son of former NFL great Rodney Harrison, has entered the transfer portal.

Harrison announced his decision on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday. He played in the Vols’ 42-17 loss to Ohio State in a College Football Playoff first-round game on Saturday night, making two tackles and played 25 snaps.

His father, Rodney Harrison, was a two-time All-Pro, two-time Super Bowl champion and a member of the New England Patriots Hall of Fame as one of the top safeties of the past 30 years. The elder Harrison played under Bill Belichick, the new coach at North Carolina.

Harrison is the 10th scholarship player to enter the transfer portal in December. The portal is open through Dec. 28.

Harrison is a 6-foot-1, 191-pounder from Atlanta. He played 26 games with four starts over three seasons at Tennessee. He took a redshirt in 2023, so he has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Harrison made 33 tackles, including three for loss, in his UT career. He started at nickelback early in the 2024 season after projected starter Jourdan Thomas suffered a season-ending injury in preseason practice. But by midway through this season, Boo Carter, an SEC All-Freshman performer, moved ahead of Harrison in the rotation.

Harrison was a three-star signee in UT’s 2022 class. He originally committed to Liberty and ultimately chose the Vols over Kansas State, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Utah, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and others.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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Titans vs Colts key moments: How Tennessee Titans lost to Indianapolis Colts

Published

12 hours ago

December 22, 2024

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Titans vs Colts key moments: How Tennessee Titans lost to Indianapolis Colts

The Tennessee Titans continue their December woes with a 38-30 loss to the Indianapolis Colts that was considerably worse than the final score line despite a fourth-quarter comeback attempt.

Indianapolis led 38-7 at one point in the third quarter after the Colts scored 38 straight, but 23 unanswered points by the Titans forced Indianapolis to run a four-minute offense to close the game out.

Tennessee (3-12) was done in by the Colts’ 24-point second quarter. Jonathan Taylor finished with 218 rushing yards and three touchdowns as Tennessee’s defense allowed 335 rushing yards overall.

Here are three key moments from the Titans’ Week 16 game:

Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts key moments

Scenario: Titans give Colts good field position after missed 53-yard field goal

Brayden Narveson’s first field goal attempt for the Titans, stepping in for the injured Nick Folk, was from 53 yards in the first quarter with the Titans leading 7-0 with 14:16 left in the second quarter.

Tennessee could have taken a 10-point lead. But Narveson’s kick was short and wide right, giving the Colts the ball near midfield.

The Colts drove down the field after the missed field goal, tying the game on an Anthony Richardson 5-yard touchdown run.

Scenario: Jonathan Taylor’s first touchdown run of the game gives Colts the lead

In a 7-7 game, Colts running back Jonathan Taylor took off for the first of several big runs on Sunday.

Taylor sprinted on zone left run, then cut back and sprinted for a 65-yard touchdown run with 7:25 left in the second quarter. Indianapolis took the lead and never looked back.

Scenario: Kenny Moore’s interception leads to a Josh Downs TD catch, Colts’ 24-7 halftime lead

Mason Rudolph’s telegraphed pass was picked off by Kenny Moore with 1:25 left in the first half, and the Colts quickly took advantage.

Josh Downs took a quick pass on a bubble route and raced past two Titans defenders for a 27-yard touchdown catch just before halftime. Indianapolis led 24-7 at the break, and the Titans’ woes continued.

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What Nico Iamaleava said after Tennessee football's loss at Ohio State

Published

20 hours ago

December 22, 2024

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What Nico Iamaleava said after Tennessee football’s loss at Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tennessee’s path to the College Football Playoff had been paved with cold-from-behind wins.

On Saturday night at Ohio Stadium, the Vols didn’t have another comeback effort in them.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Hindered by an uncharacteristic performance from its typically reliable defense and injuries, No. 9 Tennessee fell behind three scores in the first half against No. 8 Ohio State and didn’t have the offense to make up for it, leading to a 42-17 defeat that ended its season.

The Vols (10-3) had been plagued by slow starts through the first half of the season, more often than not able to find enough life to win.

They did it against Florida, Alabama and Vanderbilt in the triumph that clinched their first-ever playoff berth.

But that kind of start proved costly vs. the Buckeyes (11-2), who posted more than 430 yards of total offense and never came close to giving up their lead.

If there was any positive that could have been gleaned from Tennessee’s performance, it was quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

Iamaleava, at times during those stagnant starts looked very much like a freshman quarterback trying to find his footing as a now full-time starter.

In the second half of the season, though Iamaleava was more poised and the Vols’ began flourish on that side of the ball.

Tennessee didn’t flourish in many areas on Saturday. What small doses of momentum they found almost always involved Iamaleava.

He ran the ball 20 times for 47 yards, extending drive and rushing for both of the Vols’ only touchdowns.

Here is everything Iamaleava said about the performance.

On if he expected to run the ball 20 times

“I mean, 20 (carries). No, I did not expect to run that many times. Some shots that were there, and overall as a team we didn’t just execute the whole game plan, so got to be better.”

On what disappointed him most about the performance

“Just started off slow. We were supposed to come in, had a great game plan to come in and fire first, and they hit us in the mouth first. We were just trying to recover that whole game. First half I thought we did a great job of that, and second half coming in I thought we could have played at a way higher level than we did.”

On what team can take away from loss

“I think just use it as motivation. We’ve been putting in work since January to get to this point, and it sucks to go out that way because that’s not who we are. love this team. I love the team we have. Just the way tonight went was not the way we wanted it to go, and we’ll use that as fuel and motivation during this off-season to really hit it.”

On what Tennessee needs to do to beat better teams on the road

“I think that all just comes to executing on the road. Like I said, our coaches gave us a great game plan, and us as players, as the team, we’re the ones out there on the field playing, and we’ve just got to hold ourselves to a higher standard and execute at a higher level.”

On Dylan Sampson and Dont’e Thornton Jr. dealing with injuries, how it effected the game

“Shoot, at the end of the day, man, whoever is out there, whether it’s a freshman or not, we’ve got to be able to execute the same way with those guys or not, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight.“

On the difference between running an offense at home and on the road

“I would just say there’s a crowd noise that plays a factor in how we play. We can’t play as fast as we want to without tempo, and that’s really the biggest factor was crowd noise.”

On what personnel Tennessee can add to open up the offense

“Obviously in the off-season, me, Coach Joey, and Coach Heup are always have conversations about how we can excel this offense, and it’ll be that in the off-season, too.”

On large contingent of Tennessee fans that were at Ohio Stadium

“I love it. Man, I was so happy to see all the orange in the stands. It sucks the performance we gave out for them, but I hope they get home safe, man. I really appreciate their support.”

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