A government drive to lower the rate of teenage pregnancies has backfired, actually increasing the number of school-age mothers in England, a study confirms today.

The Young People’s Development Programme (YPDP) was extended to 27 parts of England between 2004 and 2007 after reports from the United States suggested that it could reduce unplanned pregnancies and alcohol and cannabis misuse among teenagers. It cost £5.9 million.

A total of 2,371 adolescents aged between 13 and 15 took part in the programme over the three years, at a cost of £2,500 each. But independent research published in the British Medical Journal found that young girls who attended were “significantly” more likely to become pregnant than those in a comparison group.

A total of 16 per cent of the YPDP group became pregnant, compared with 6 per cent in the other group, a youth programme not receiving YPDP funds. This was despite those in the YPDP group having education about sex and drugs and being no more sexually active than the other group.

The teenagers who were recruited were considered by teachers or other professionals to be at risk of becoming pregnant or misusing alcohol or drugs at an early age.

“Young women in the intervention group also more commonly reported early heterosexual experience [58 per cent compared with 33 per cent] and expectation of teenage parenthood [34 per cent and 24 per cent],” the study report said.

Meg Wiggins, from the Institute of Education at the University of London, and Chris Bonell, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the study, followed up both groups for 18 months. They concluded: “No evidence was found that the intervention was effective in delaying heterosexual experience or reducing pregnancies, drunkenness or cannabis use. Some results suggested an adverse effect.”

The Department of Health said that it would be discontinuing the programme owing to lack of success.

A government spokesman said: “Overall teenage pregnancy rates have been going down for the last ten years. It’s right that we continue to look for new ways of reaching out to young girls to prevent them from getting pregnant.

“This pilot was based on a successful American programme. It didn’t appear to reduce teenage pregnancy, so we will not be taking it any further.”

In an accompanying editorial in the British Medical Journal, Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist based in the US, said that results of the study did not mean that all youth development approaches were ineffective at cutting teenage pregnancies. For example, programmes might be more effective when implemented by charismatic staff, when they facilitated access to reproductive health services, when the staff connected with the teenage participants, or when the staff gave a strong clear message about avoiding unprotected sex. “Programmes may be less effective when one or more of these conditions are not met,” he said.

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