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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

More or Less: Teenage Pregnancy

Factual

Pregnant woman with hands over tummy

29/11/2014

Teenage Pregnancy

BBC World Service - More or Less, Teenage Pregnancy

The truth behind the claim that 'one-third' of US girls become pregnant as teenagers

The truth behind the claim that 'about one-third' of US girls become pregnant as teenagers. Plus, ss the majority of communication really non-verbal?

"About one-third of American girls become pregnant as teenagers” an article in the New York Times claimed. More or Less investigates whether that is true and examines the long-term trends when it comes to teenage pregnancy in developed countries. We speak to Bill Albert from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Heather Boonstra from the Guttmacher Institute.

Does 55% of communication really come from body language and gestures, 38% from facial expression and only 7% from words? It is a question that More or Less is regularly asked to look into. Five years on from first doing so, we replay the interview with professor Albert Mehrabian whose research is the source of the often heard claim.

(Image: Pregnant woman with hands over tummy. Credit: Shutterstock)

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