Research has found that teenage pregnancy can result in

A service of the national library of medicine, national institutes of al research council (us) panel on adolescent pregnancy and childbearing; hofferth sl, hayes cd, editors. Risking the future: adolescent sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing, volume ii: working papers and statistical appendices. Risking the future: adolescent sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing, volume ii: working papers and statistical detailsnational research council (us) panel on adolescent pregnancy and childbearing; hofferth sl, hayes cd, gton (dc): national academies press (us); tshardcopy version at national academies presssearch term < prevnext >. 4teenage pregnancy and its resolutionsandra thone major source of confusion in the literature dealing with teen pregnancy and childbearing is precisely the distinction between pregnancy and its outcomes. People often say they're referring to teenage pregnancy when they only have information on births. Pregnancy can be resolved in a number of ways, only one of which is a live birth kept by the mother. However, in talking about the problems of teen pregnancy, the problems that have been well-documented to date are those associated with that one outcome—bearing and raising a child as a teenager. Teens are resolved are presented, followed by a discussion of research that sheds light on the factors associated with resolving a pregnancy one way rather than another. A summary and conclusions section closes the oundin 1984 there were 469,682 births to teenagers 15 to 19, 9,965 births to teens under 15. The change in the absolute numbers of births and pregnancies does not adequately indicate the incidence of teen pregnancy and childbearing because it does not take into account changes in the number of teen women. Nor does it take into consideration the number of women at risk, that is, the number of women who are sexually active (see hofferth et al. Pregnancy rates1 per 1000 women 15 to 19 rose 9 per- cent between 1974 and 1984; however, because the proportion who were sexually active also rose over the period, the pregnancy rates per 1000 sexually active women 15 to 19 actually fell 8. That is, what is the chance that a young woman would become pregnant as a teenager? Although this probability has been estimated using survey data, since abortions are underestimated in such data, the estimates of pregnancy will be low. Based on such data it was estimated that in 1981 about 44 percent of young women will become pregnant before reaching age 20, 40 percent of white and 63 percent of black women (forrest, 1986; table 3. The data that are most helpful in showing what the actual risk of pregnancy is among those who are sexually active, breaks the probability down by the length of time since first intercourse and uses a life table methodology to estimate the risk of conception within the first two years after first intercourse (zabin, 1979; koenig and zelnik, 1982). Data collected in 1976 (zabin, 1979) indicate that within the first three months 9 percent of white and 14 percent of black teenage women will have experienced a first premarital pregnancy (table 3. By the end of the first year that figure has risen to 17 percent for whites and 27 percent for blacks, and by the end of two years, 30 percent of whites and 37 percent of black teenagers will have experienced a first premarital pregnancy. Data from 1979 (koenig and zelnik, 1982) suggest a slight increase in the probability of pregnancy during the first two years after first intercourse between 1976 and 1979, with 33 percent of white teenagers and 43 percent of black teenagers experiencing a first premarital pregnancy within two years after first intercourse (table 3. The probability of a first pregnancy is strongly affected by two factors—the age at first intercourse and the use of contraception (tables 4. Pregnancy rates are much for those older at first intercourse and for those who always used a contraceptive method. There was little difference in pregnancy between those who used a prescription and non-prescription methods, as long as they always used it (koenig and zelnik, 1982). In 1982 the total births to teenagers 15 to 19 represented 47 percent of the total number of pregnancies (abortions plus births plus miscarriages [table 3. Shows how pregnancies in 1982 were divided: 40 percent of the pregnancies were aborted, and 13 percent miscarried; thus slightly under half, 47 percent, resulted in a live birth. Resolutions to a premarital pregnancy considered here are abortion versus having a live birth, marriage versus non-marriage, and adoption versus keeping the birth versus abortionthe proportion of teenage pregnancies that ended in a live birth decreased over the past decade (table 3. The percent of teenage pregnancies terminated by abortions climbed rapidly, increasing from 27 percent to 40 percent between 1974 and 1980. Levels of sexual activity among teenagers are actually higher in denmark than in the u. In both countries the pregnancy rates increased initially after liberalization of abortion, but levels in denmark returned to those prior to liberalization, while those in the united states continued to rise. However, while they have leveled off in denmark, they have continued to rise in the united rapid increase in pregnancy and abortion rates in the u. Showed, pregnancy rates among those sexually active actually showed a decline between 1974 and valuable lessons from these data and from a recent study of five western european nations (jones et al. 1986) are that 1) high levels of sexual activity do not necessarily result in high pregnancy rates, given adequate use of contraception, and 2) low birth rates do not necessarily imply high abortion rates; they may simply imply low pregnancy rates. 1985) also found that in each of 5 developed nations they investigated, that 15–17 year olds were much more likely to abort a pregnancy than 18–19 year olds: the difference was smallest in the u. This suggests substantial differences between united states and other countries in choice of resolution for unplanned pregnancies, differences which will be pursued a little geone way of resolving an out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy is by marrying. Assuming that abortions indicate that a pregnancy was unintended, it can be inferred that most pregnancies to married women are intended. If to the proportion of postmarital births are added a proportion of the miscarriages and a small proportion of the abortions, it can be seen that that between 15 and 20 percent of all pregnancies to women under 20 occur to married women. The remainder, 80 to 85 percent, are premarital r, it was pointed out that about 24 percent of sexually active teenagers age 14 become pregnant each year. However, this does not tell us how many teenagers age 14 become pregnant before they reach 20 or marry. According to 1979 survey data (zelnik and kantner, 1980), 16 percent of all metro teenage women 15 to 19 had ever experienced a premarital pregnancy, double that of 1971.

Of those sexually active, 33 percent had ever experienced a premarital pregnancy, a small increase since 1971. Thus, when control is introduced for the increase in sexual activity over the decade of the 1970's, the incidence of premarital pregnancy has not changed very much. The major reason for the large apparent increase in premarital pregnancy is the increase in sexual activity. There was an increase in premarital pregnancy among sexually active white teens, but not among black teens. Thus premarital pregnancy has increased, but not as much among those sexually active as it appears from the increase in the population of teenagers. Data from the 1982 national survey of family growth show a slight decline in premarital pregnancy among teenagers between 1979 and 1982, although the difference is probably not statistically significant. In 1982 14 percent of all teen women 15 to 19 had ever experienced a premarital pregnancy, compared with 16 percent in 1979. Of those premaritally sexually active, 30 percent experienced a premarital figures substantially underestimate the true proportion of teenagers who become pregnant before they reach age 20 or marry because abortions are substantially underreported in surveys—by as much as 50 percent. Unmarried black teenage females are the least likely to accurately report their abortions, with unmarried white teenage females only slightly more accurate. Since accurate pregnancy estimates depend on accurate abortion reports, the reports of pregnancy obtained from surveys will be lower than those estimated on the basis of nationally collected data from organizations such as the centers for disease control and the alan guttmacher institute. Suggest that based on 1981 data about 40 percent of white teenagers 15–19 and 63 percent of black teenagers would experience a first pregnancy before reaching age increase in premarital pregnancy over the decade of the 1970s was not due to an increased wantedness of pregnancy. Shows that the proportion of premaritally pregnant teens who were unmarried at resolution who wanted the pregnancy actually declined between 1971 and 1979 for whites and blacks alike, and the proportion using contraception increased (zelnik and kantner, 1980; table 4. However, since the proportion who marry to resolve a premarital pregnancy also declined, the proportion who wanted a pregnancy probably also declined for all premaritally pregnant teen ceptive use generally improved between 1971 and 1982. Shows that the percentage of premaritally sexually active teen women who ever experienced a premarital first pregnancy rose in all contraceptive use statuses 1976–79, except for those who used contraception at first intercourse but not always (zelnik and kantner, 1980). The authors attribute this increase in pregnancy, particularly among the youngest teens, to sharply increased frequency of intercourse and to decreased reliance on the most effective methods of contraception (koenig and zelnik, 1982). Data are not yet available from the 1982 nsfg to see whether pregnancy rates continued to increase among contraceptive users as well as non-users. We suspect they have not, since pregnancy rates have been ondata from three surveys of young women (bachrach, 1985) show that the proportion of teenage women whose first pregnancy ended in a first premarital birth and who gave their baby up for adoption declined in the 1970s between 1971 and 1976 and leveled off at a low level between 1976 and 1982 (table 8. Legal abortion became an alternative to adoption for many young women who had an unintended pregnancy and who would have adopted if abortion were not available. It has been argued that the reduced social stigma attached to unwed pregnancy caused a shift away from adoption as an alternative to childbirth. This is just speculation, since there is no research that would allow us to shed light on these changes. Just documenting the changes that have occurred is a difficult chfactors associated with resolution of premarital teen pregnancies: delivering the babyonce a teenager is pregnant, what factors are associated with whether she has an abortion or carries the pregnancy to term and delivers the baby? One study found that the younger the teen at conception, the more likely she was to carry the pregnancy to term (zelnik et al. This is supported by data from another study, which found that of those 13 to 19, the 16 to 17 year olds were most likely to have a live birth. The true explanation may be the underreporting of abortions in sample surveys of teenagers, which is likely to be most serious for the younger teens. This is a serious problem for analytic study of abortion using sample birth year of the teenager is important. Women are more likely than in the past to resolve a premarital pregnancy by abortion (table 4. Although in the early 1970s black teenagers had a lower likelihood of using abortion to resolve pregnancy, according to these abortion ratios, after 1974 the abortion ratios are similar or slightly higher for blacks than whites. Among young teenagers the ratio of abortions to births is lower for blacks than whites (table 4. 1981) found that the more religious a young women, the more likely she is, once pregnant, to bear the child. Another study using data from a small study of health providers in ventura county california found white catholics to be less likely to have a live birth, once pregnant than either white non-catholics or hispanic catholics (eisen et al. Most important family factor associated with delivering a baby versus aborting a pregnancy is parental education. The higher the education of parents, the lower the likelihood that a teenager, once pregnant, will have a live birth (zelnik et al. The most important factors affecting the outcome of the pregnancy was whether the pregnancy was wanted. Girls who said they wanted the pregnancy were much more likely to have a live birth than those who didn't (zelnik et al. Of course, this measure of wantedness was obtained after the resolution of the pregnancy; ex-post facto rationalization may be measured s about abortion and birth are important. The most important factors associated with choice of pregnancy resolution are expectations and academic achievement. High school dropouts and those not enrolled in school, those with a low grade point average, and those with low educational expectations have been found more likely, once pregnant, to have a live birth (eisen et al. Controlling for a number of individual characteristics, such as education of the father, wantedness of pregnancy, importance of religion and race, they found the probability of abortion to be significantly lower in states having relatively generous afdc benefit levels (moore and caldwell, 1977).

1980) examined a group of 299 pregnant teenagers who went to health providers in ventura county, california between 1972 and 1974 for assistance in terminating a pregnancy or for prenatal care. The teens were interviewed twice, once prior to abortion or delivery and a second time six months after the resolution of the pregnancy. The authors hypothesized that young women who received state support would be more likely to choose delivery than girls who were self-supporting. They found that both receiving financial aid from the family and receiving financial aid from the state (afdc) were associated with choosing delivery (eisen et al. However, more young women than those currently living in welfare families would be eligible for welfare if they did give birth; thus the study really measures the effect of actual receipt of welfare benefits, rather than their s associated with marriage before birth (legitimation)young women are less likely now than in the past to resolve a premarital pregnancy by marrying. The proportion of women pregnant before marriage who resolved a premarital pregnancy by marrying dropped by 50 percent between 1971 and 1979 for both whites and blacks (zelnik and kantner, 1980). We look only at pregnancies that end in a live birth, we see that of the total first births to white and black teenagers, the proportion conceived outside of marriage has risen, and the proportion premaritally conceived but legitimated before birth rose then declined to about the same initial level (o'connell and rogers, 1985). As a result, the proportion born out of wedlock rose studies have examined factors associated with whether a premaritally pregnant teenager who subsequently had a birth married prior to that birth: zelnik et al. They found that (among those who were premaritally pregnant and gave birth) white teenagers, those from a higher socioeconomic status background and those who wanted the baby were more likely to marry before bearing the child. They found that (among those who carried to term) the only factor that discriminated between those who married before the birth and those who didn't was whether the family had been receiving financial aid from the state. Those girls whose families had been receiving financial aid from the state during pregnancy were less likely to marry than those who had not been receiving such assistance (eisen et al. Associated with bearing an out-of-wedlock childthe resolution many people are interested in is that of bearing a child out-of-wedlock compared with all other options. The previous analyses have explored the decisions in temporal sequence: that is, they have looked at, first, the decision to abort or carry a premarital pregnancy to term, and, second, the decision to marry or not marry before birth among those who carry to term. The results of studies viewing the decision this way do not differ from the results of studies using paired comparisons only, but this approach allows simultaneous comparison among all alternative resolutions. 1983 found teens living in families receiving financial aid from the state to be more likely than their peers to bear an out-of-wedlock child. In contrast, using 1971 data from the national survey of young women, moore and caldwell (1977) found no relationship between level of afdc benefits and having an out-of-wedlock birth. The latter found a negative relationship between afdc acceptance rates and the probability of having an out-of-wedlock birth. That is, young women in states with high acceptance rates were less likely to have an out-of-wedlock birth (moore and caldwell, 1977). The results suggest that teenagers who make adoption plans are similar to those who have abortions but different from those who take on parenting responsibilities. Data from the 1982 national survey of family growth (bachrach, 1985) show that teenagers under 18, whose parents have had some college, whose baby was born before 1973, and who were living with both parents at age 14 were more likely than other teenagers to place the child for adoption if they had a premarital recent studies (kallen, 1984; resnick, 1984) are funded by the office of adolescent pregnancy programs to look more closely at the factors affecting the decision of unmarried pregnant teens to make an adoption plan. At this writing no results are yet s associated with decision satisfactionit is obvious that no one decision is the “right” decision for all adolescents, since the circumstances differ among individuals. However, researchers have found some regularities in the extent to which individuals express satisfaction or dissatisfaction about the decisions they have made in resolving their pregnancies. A study of a danish sample found that the degree of satisfaction with the decision depended on the firmness of the decision in the first place. Of those who had made a firm decision to abort soon after learning about pregnancy, 94 percent said that the decision was correct 6 months later. Of those who were not so certain, 72 percent said that the decision was correct 6 months later (david et al. Study of united states teen women (rosen, 1983) found that the more alternatives considered, the greater the dissatisfaction with the decision. This probably reflects greater uncertainty as to what to do, and is consistent results from the danish study (david et al. Eisen and zellman (1984) study of pregnant teens in ventura county, california found no significant difference in decision satisfaction 6 months after pregnancy resolution by type of decision made, age or ethnic group. Among teenagers who chose abortion, those with better educated mothers, who had advocated abortion for themselves, who were more approving of abortion in general and who used contraception more consistently following abortion were more satisfied (eisen and zellman, 1984). Young teenagers in the united states have a very high probability of bearing the child, once pregnant, compared to older teenagers or teenagers in other countries (jones et al. 1982) show abortion ratios (abortions divided by births plus abortions) to 15 to 17 year olds that are twice those of u. Results from the national survey of young women suggested that, net of other factors, girls younger at conception are more likely than older teens to carry a pregnancy to term. Although the differences are exaggerated because of the underreporting of abortion at younger ages, it could be expected that abortion would be higher at younger ages than at older ages, as shown by the danish sample, since few young women wanted these the lack of difference by age in the united states is of interest. The chapter has emphasized differences between blacks and whites, but conclusions about race differences in pregnancy resolution based on analyses of survey data are of necessity weak because of differential reporting of abortion by race in those data sets. During the teen years, the ratio of induced terminations of pregnancy to live births is higher for whites than for blacks. Analysts need to choose the appropriate measure for their reason for the differences between blacks and whites in abortion is that blacks appear to use abortion for spacing or to end childbearing more than to postpone a first birth. Since birth occurs nine months and abortion approximately 3 months after a conception, a proportion of the young women who conceived (and who eventually bore a child) at the same time as those who conceived and who eventually terminated the pregnancy through abortion would be one year older at outcome. Thus the event (pregnancy) occurred at the same age, but this would not be reflected in the statistics.

The other organizations that report abortion statistics do not yet do so (the centers for disease control and the national center for health statistics). The figure is smaller for teenagers, as could be expected, since they have not had as much time to have one, let alone two abortions. Nchs data suggest that 12 percent of abortions to 15 to 17 year olds, and 22 percent of abortions to 18 to 19 year olds are repeat abortions (table 4. After adjusting for the fact that abortions performed on teenagers are performed later in pregnancy, which is somewhat more risky, rates of mortality and morbidity from abortion are somewhat lower for teenagers than for adult women. There is only one instance in which teenagers appeared to be at higher risk of injury than adults. Teenagers appeared to be at higher risk of cervical damage than older women (cates et al. There is little evidence that having had one prior abortion increases a woman's risk of miscarriage, premature birth or bearing a low birth weight baby, there is some evidence that having had multiple abortions may increase this risk, although, again, the results of several different studies do not agree (levin et al. Although in 1971 the percentage of teen women who had a premarital second pregnancy was higher 2 years after the outcome of the first premarital pregnancy for those who had an abortion than for those who had a birth, by 1979 the figures were reversed. In 1979 teen women who had terminated their premarital first pregnancy by abortion were less likely to have a second pregnancy within two years than those who had carried the first pregnancy to term (koenig and zelnik, 1982). Tietze (1978) argued that the increasing number of repeat abortions reflects the increasing number of women who have had a first abortion and are, therefore, at risk of having a second abortion. This appears to be born out by a recent study that shows few differences between women obtaining a first and those obtaining a repeat abortion (berger et al. Finally, results from a 1982 national survey show that fewer than one half of 1 percent of women exposed to the risk of unintended pregnancy, who did not use contraception, mentioned the availlability of abortion as a reason for nonuse (forrest and henshaw, 1983). Yet only a very small amount of research has been conducted on this important issue. One important issue that researchers have just begun to address is whether miscarriage and abortion have psychological, social, health, familial, educational, economic or other consequences for adolescents and for their families. The many studies of health effects that have been conducted have found little negative impact on health (hogue et al. Major question that several researchers have addressed is why individual women choose one form of resolution to a pregnancy over another. Research suggests that a premaritally pregnant teen is more likely to give birth rather than obtain an abortion if she wanted the pregnancy, is of lower socioeconomic status, is unfavorably disposed to abortion, has lower aspirations and educational expectations, receives parental financial assistance, currently lives in a family that receives public assistance, and lives in a state with higher afdc benefit levels. These results are based on a very limited set of studies, however, and all these studies suffer from underreporting of those who give birth, those who are of lower socioeconomic status, who are younger, and who are black are less likely to marry than their types of data are needed: 1) vital statistics data that can provide national estimates of abortion (and, as a result, pregnancies) by age and, simultaneously, by race/ethnicity, and 2) survey data that not only provide reasonable estimates of abortion but also contain variables that could be used to test hypotheses about relationships among variables both at one point and over time. Viewcite this pagenational research council (us) panel on adolescent pregnancy and childbearing; hofferth sl, hayes cd, editors. Chapter 4, teenage pregnancy and its this pagebackgroundthe resolution of teen pregnanciesresearchsummary and conclusionsrecent activityclearturn offturn onteenage pregnancy and its resolution - risking the futureteenage pregnancy and its resolution - risking the futureyour browsing activity is ty recording is turned recording back onsee more... Policy progress the nation has made over the last few decades in reducing teen pregnancy has been extraordinary. After years of increases in the 1970s and 1980s, the teen pregnancy rate peaked in 1990 and has declined steadily since. What is more, teen pregnancy rates have fallen in all 50 states and among all racial and ethnic lly, teen pregnancy rates can decrease in one of two ways—if teens have less sex or become more effective contraceptive users—or through some combination of the two. The evidence clearly indicates that more and better contraceptive use has been the main factor driving the long-term decline in teen pregnancy. Deconstructing why teen pregnancy rates have fallen over the last several decades nonetheless matters, so that future programs, policies and practices can be shaped to help advance—rather than hinder—these positive 2010, some 614,000 u. Teen pregnancy rate has declined not only for the nation as a whole, but also for every state. Yet, substantial disparities remain among states: maine, massachusetts, minnesota, new hampshire and vermont have consistently had the lowest teen pregnancy rates (28–37 per 1,000 in 2010), whereas arkansas, louisiana, mississippi, new mexico, oklahoma and texas have had the highest (69–80 per 1,000). Nonetheless, wide disparities in pregnancy rates by race and ethnicity persist, with rates among both black and hispanic teens remaining twice as high as among their non-hispanic white majority of teen pregnancies (69%) occur among 18–19-year-olds, which is hardly surprising given that they make up the majority of sexually active teens. In 2010, the pregnancy rate among 18–19-year-olds was 96 per 1,000, while the rate among 15–17-year-olds was 30 per 1, recent data are available for teen birthrates than for teen pregnancy rates, and those data show that the decline in teen births has continued: it dropped 10% from 2012 to 2013, to 27 per 1,000—the lowest rate ever reported for the united states. Although data for the same time period are not yet available for abortions (and therefore pregnancies), these numbers suggest that teen pregnancy rates may very well have continued their long-term declines as ning the is behind the downward trend in teen pregnancy rates? On one level, the answer is simple: pregnancy rates have fallen either because teens are having less sex in the first place or because more teens who are sexually active are using contraceptives and using them more effectively. Researchers have analyzed the role of both over the last several decades, and they have concluded that the declines can primarily—although not exclusively—be attributed to improvements in teens’ contraceptive 2007, researchers from the guttmacher institute and columbia university examined data from two rounds of a large-scale government survey, the 1995 and 2002 cycles of the national survey of family growth (nsfg). The researchers concluded that the vast majority of the decline in teen pregnancy—86%—was the result of improvements in contraceptive use, including increases in the use of individual methods, an increase in the use of multiple methods and a substantial decline in nonuse. The remaining 14% of the decline could be attributed to a decrease in sexual broken down by age, the decline in teen pregnancy among 18–19-year-olds was entirely attributable to improved contraceptive use, because the overall proportions who had ever had sex or were engaging in sexual activity did not change between 1995 and 2002. Delaying first sex played a greater role for younger teens, accounting for 23% of the decline in pregnancy among 15– 2014, guttmacher researchers analyzed subsequent cycles of nsfg data and found that the decline in teen pregnancy since 2003 had little or nothing to do with teens’ delaying sex. Although limited to adolescents in school-based settings (in grades 9–12), the yrbs found no significant change in the overall proportion of students who were sexually experienced or currently engaging in sexual activity between 2001 and d, the decline in teen pregnancy in recent years can be linked to improvements in teens’ contraceptive use. Comparing reports from two periods of nsfg data (mid-2006 to mid-2008 and mid-2008 to mid-2010), guttmacher researchers found moderate increases in teens’ use of any contraceptive method, highly effective methods and dual methods (i. The likely reason, again, is improved contraceptive 2010, the only data available on trends in sexual experience and contraceptive use are from the yrbs, and they indicate that there was no change between 2011 and 2013 in the prevalence of sexual activity or contraceptive use among teens.

But the yrbs tracks progress only among adolescents in school; data on all adolescents, from the initial years of the 2011–2015 nsfg, are expected to be released later this year, and only then will researchers be able to provide more detailed analyses to explain the most recent trends in teen recent trends in sexual experience and contraceptive use are clear enough, but understanding what is driving these behaviors is more of a challenge. The quality and quantity of evaluation research have improved dramatically over the last decade, and there is now clear evidence that comprehensive sex education programs can change the behaviors that put young people at risk of pregnancy. By contrast, programs that exclusively promote abstinence outside of marriage have been proven ineffective at stopping or even delaying sex. Yet, researchers say it is not realistic to expect that an education program alone will change behaviors enough to have a measurable impact on pregnancy rates. According to the cdc, middle school classes containing pregnancy prevention education include a median total of only three hours on the topic; high school classes are not much better, dedicating only four hours. Moreover, because so few program participants become pregnant, most studies simply are not large enough to detect the impact of programs on pregnancy chers, therefore, have considered other contextual factors that may explain the drop in rates, and the recent trends in sexual activity and contraceptive use that underlay gh it may be difficult to prove a causal link, it is widely recognized that economic inequality, social marginalization and other structural factors affect teens’ sexual behavior and contraceptive use patterns. But living in poverty or having a low level of education could also increase the risk that a young woman will become pregnant in the first chers have considered whether the changing demographic makeup of the nation may be contributing to the trends in teen pregnancy and birth rates. Whereas the age composition of the teenage population has been roughly consistent since the early 1990s, the racial and ethnic composition has changed. Latina adolescents—a group with high rates of pregnancy and births—make up an increasing share of the teenage population. All else held constant, therefore, researchers would have expected substantial increases in the teen pregnancy and birth rates, rather than declines. That makes the decreases even more of a d to the effects of long-standing social inequalities, researchers have also considered whether the nation’s economy or labor market conditions may have contributed to fewer pregnancies and births among teens. Considering that teen pregnancy has been consistently declining despite fluctuations in the economy, it appears that the economy may not be a major driver behind the drop in rates. Investigators have found that many adult women postpone childbearing during periods of economic downturn, when there are fewer job opportunities and increased competition for those jobs that are available. Little research has focused on the economy’s impact on adolescents’ contraceptive use and childbearing decisions, and the scant research that does exist suggests that the economy may affect the reproductive behavior of some groups, such as older african american teens, but not others. In the early 1990s, a handful of highly visible people living with hiv—such as sports figure magic johnson, mother and activist elizabeth glaser, and teenager ryan white—helped raise public awareness of hiv, and of the need for aids research and public education to address the epidemic. According to data from the nsfg, condom use at last sex among females aged 15–19 increased from 38% in 1995 to 52% in 2006–2010; among males, condom use at last sex increased steadily, from 64% in 1995 to 75% in 2006–ng social attitudes and family norms may also be contributing to the trend in teen pregnancy. Many experts believe that adolescents may be mirroring what they see in their own families and their friends’ families, and waiting until later to have children. In other words, the decline in teen pregnancy may be just one manifestation of a larger shift in fertility patterns in this country. Declines in pregnancy among teens parallel those among 20–24-year-olds, suggesting that later childbearing may be the “new normal” for adolescents, as well as for young es in the media about sex, abstinence, contraceptive use and teen childbearing may also be having an influence. The internet has become an important source for health information, including information about sex and birth control,23 and many web sites also allow young people to ask questions that they might otherwise feel uncomfortable broaching in class or with friends and family traditional media sources, such as television and magazines, are also important sources of information. For example, there is evidence that the reality television programs “16 and pregnant” and “teen mom” may have influenced teen birthrates in recent years: according to one analysis, internet search activity and tweets about sex, birth control and abortion increased substantially right around the time that new episodes aired. Although establishing a causal relationship is challenging, teens’ interest in these topics suggests that media exposure might be playing a role in their l tal reports indicate that recent changes in medical practice have made it easier for adolescents to start and continue using hormonal methods. It used to be that a routine pelvic examination was required before prescribing hormonal methods. In the early 2000s, however, that began to change, as the standard of care regarding pap tests and pelvic examinations shifted. Around that time, various medical groups—from the world health organization (who) to the american cancer society to the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists (acog)— updated their clinical recommendations to enable teens and young women to access hormonal contraceptives more quickly and easily without a pelvic exam or pap onally, the medical establishment’s thinking around the use of iuds has changed in recent years. Although the proportion of teens using the iud is still small, the impact could be significant: the iud is 45 times as effective as oral contraceptives in preventing pregnancy, based on typical use, and 90 times as effective as male tanding why teen pregnancy rates have fallen goes to the heart of a number of relevant and timely public policy questions. There are many complex societal forces that may help explain the drop in teen pregnancy, birth and abortion rates—and the sexual behaviors and contraceptive use patterns that underlay them. Although additional research might shed more light on what is motivating teens to alter their behavior, what is clear is that adolescents today are seeking and taking more responsibility for themselves. And the appropriate public policy response is to expand their access to the information and services they want and adolescents, for example, need sex education that teaches them the skills they need to delay sexual initiation, while also preparing them with the information and skills needed to protect themselves and their partners when they do become sexually active. Today, 35 states and the district of columbia require that public schools provide some form of sex or sti/hiv education. Currently, this guidance is heavily weighted toward stressing abstinence, and 19 states require that instruction on the importance of engaging in sexual activity only within marriage be provided. By contrast, although many states allow or even require that information about contraception be covered, none require that it be onally, adolescents who are sexually active need easy access to contraceptive services. Expansions in public and private health insurance under the affordable care act mean that more teens are gaining coverage for contraceptive services. Million teens and helped teens prevent 360,000 unintended pregnancies; 190,000 of these would have resulted in unplanned births and 110,000 in the end of the day, the credit for the declines in teen pregnancy goes to adolescents themselves, who are making an effort to prevent unintended pregnancy. The question now is whether society will do its part by adopting policies that support and equip young people with knowledge, skills and services to stay healthy. The research shows that adolescents need more comprehensive education, not less, and increased access to contraceptive services, not less. Finer lb and philbin jm, sexual initiation, contraceptive use, and pregnancy among young adolescents, pediatrics, 2013, 131(5):886–891. Explaining recent declines in adolescent pregnancy in the united states: the contribution of abstinence and improved contraceptive use, american journal of public health, 2007, 97(1):150–156.

Underhill k, montgomery p and operario d, sexual abstinence only programmes to prevent hiv infection in high income countries: systematic review, bmj, 2007, 335(7613):248– db, the impact of abstinence and comprehensive sex and std/hiv education programs on adolescent sexual behavior, sexuality research & social policy, 2008, 5(3):18–27. Kann l, telljohann sk and wooley sf, health education: results from the school health policies and programs study 2006, journal of school health, 2007, 77(8):408–434. Ananat eo, gassman-pines a and gibson-davis c, community-wide job loss and teenage fertility: evidence from north carolina, demography, 2013, 50(6):2151–2171. Martinez g, copen ce and abma jc, teenagers in the united states: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, 2006–2010 national survey of family growth, vital and health statistics, 2011, series 23, no. 20, nited statescontraception: state policies on contraceptionhiv & stispregnancy: unintended pregnancyteens: teen pregnancy, state policies on teens geographyunited states tagssex education, ceptive needs and services, 2013 affecting reproductive health and rights: state policy trends in the first quarter of clarity for the u. Abortion debate: a steep drop in unintended pregnancy is driving recent abortion cher policy ncbi web site requires javascript to tionresourceshow toabout ncbi accesskeysmy ncbisign in to ncbisign l listhhs author life course res. Pmc4120999nihmsid: nihms562186understanding multiple levels of norms about teen pregnancy and their relationships to teens’ sexual behaviorsstefanie mollborn, benjamin w. Oc@nrobllomauthor information ► copyright and license information ►copyright notice and disclaimerpublisher's disclaimerthe publisher's final edited version of this article is available at adv life course ressee other articles in pmc that cite the published ctresearchers seeking to understand teen sexual behaviors often turn to age norms, but they are difficult to measure quantitatively. Capitalizing on the multilevel design of the add health survey, we measure teen pregnancy norms perceived by teenagers, as well as average norms at the school and peer network levels. Peer network and individually perceived norms against teen pregnancy independently and negatively predict teens’ likelihood of sexual intercourse. Perceived norms against pregnancy predict increased likelihood of contraception among sexually experienced girls, but sexually experienced boys’ contraceptive behavior is more complicated: when both the boy and his peers or school have stronger norms against teen pregnancy he is more likely to contracept, and in the absence of school or peer norms against pregnancy, boys who are embarrassed are less likely to contracept. We conclude that: (1) patterns of behavior cannot adequately operationalize teen pregnancy norms, (2) norms are not simply linked to behaviors through individual perceptions, and (3) norms at different levels can operate independently of each other, interactively, or in opposition. This evidence creates space for conceptualizations of agency, conflict, and change that can lead to progress in understanding age norms and sexual ds: social norms, teen pregnancy, adolescent sexual behavior, school contexts, peer influence, age norms, add health, gender, social psychology1. Headlines regularly remind us that just half of american adults are now married (cohn, passel, wang, & livingston, 2011). Survey data have found that a majority of older americans do not find nonmarital childbearing to be morally acceptable, but most younger americans do (taylor, funk, & clark, 2007). Teenagers has been fairly consistent for the past 50 years (furstenberg 2003), and although american teens have lately begun having sex at older ages and contracepting more consistently (hoffman, 2008), teen sexuality, pregnancy, and parenthood continue to be major social issues today. Nearly 80 percent of adults in a national poll considered teen pregnancy to be an “important” or “very serious” problem in the united states (science and integrity survey, 2004). Yet teen pregnancy occurs within a local social context that comes with its own norms—norms that can vary considerably from one place to another. Like other sociologists, we define social norms as group-level expectations of appropriate behavior that lead to negative sanctions when violated (marini, 1984; settersten, 2004). As such, norms cannot be adequately captured by measuring the population-level prevalence of a behavior; most adults may drink coffee, but that does not mean tea drinkers face negative social sanctions (marini, 1984). Although social norms are a social phenomenon in reference to a specific social group, extant quantitative research usually measures them at the individual level. Our study addresses these limitations by measuring teen pregnancy norms at the group level and considering multiple reference groups simultaneously. Sexual intercourse and contraception are interrelated behaviors leading to pregnancy that may be associated differently with norms, so we analyze research is important because in recent years, social norms have become an “elephant in the room” for researchers working to understand relationships between social contexts and individual behaviors: most would agree that norms matter, but difficulties with conceptualizing and measuring norms have led to criticisms (e. We argue that measuring norms at the level of important reference groups and modeling their associations with behavior is an important first step in addressing these criticisms and working to understand the role of norms in shaping human behavior. Researching norms about teen pregnancy is also empirically important because of its high prevalence in the united states, its negative consequences for young mothers, fathers, and children, and its concentration in already marginalized segments of the population (furstenberg, 2007; hoffman, 1998; levine, pollack, & comfort, 2001; pirog & magee, 1997). To understand the implications of a teen pregnancy, we must think of it as a social phenomenon embedded in normative contexts that are linked to individual perceptions and behaviors. In this paper, we contribute to this situated conceptualization of teen sexual behavior by addressing the following three questions: first, how are school-level and peer-level average norms about teen pregnancy related to the perceived norms about teen pregnancy of individual teenage boys and girls? For this reason, some argue that a focus on teens fails to address the real problem and that much more attention needs to be given to preventing childbearing, or raising marriage rates, among single women who have already entered their adult there are at least four reasons to focus on teens:First, although a large proportion of non-marital births is to adult women, half of first non-marital births are to teens. Thus, the pattern tends to start in the teenage years, and, once teens have had a first child outside marriage, many go on to have additional children out of wedlock at an older age. So, if we want to prevent out-of-wedlock childbearing and the growth of single-parent families, the teenage years are a good place to , teen childbearing is very costly. A 1997 study by rebecca maynard of mathematica policy research in princeton, new jersey, found that, after controlling for differences between teen mothers and mothers aged 20 or 21 when they had their first child, teen childbearing costs taxpayers more than $7 billion a year or $3,200 a year for each teenage birth, conservatively thening military readiness: the role of military families in 21st century policy & unemployment. In fact, half of all current welfare recipients had their first child as a research suggests that women who have children at an early age are no worse off than comparable women who delay childbearing. According to this research, many of the disadvantages accruing to early childbearers are related to their own disadvantaged backgrounds. This research suggests that it would be unwise to attribute all of the problems faced by teen mothers to the timing of the birth per se. But even after taking background characteristics into account, other research documents that teen mothers are less likely to finish high school, less likely to ever marry, and more likely to have additional children outside marriage. As a result, even if married, these women face much higher rates of poverty and dependence on government assistance than those who avoid an early birth. They are more likely to do poorly in school, to suffer higher rates of abuse and neglect, and to end up in foster care with all its attendant michele alacevich and anna last mile in ending extreme by laurence chandy, hiroshi kato, and homi does current welfare law address teen pregnancy and non-marital births? Requirement that teen mothers complete high school or the equivalent and live at home or in another supervised setting;.

Requirement that states set goals and take actions to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, with special emphasis on teen ch attempting to establish a link between one or more of these provisions and teen out-of-wedlock childbearing has, for the most part, failed to find a clear relationship. The fact that these declines predated the enactment of federal welfare reform suggests that they were caused by other factors. However, it is worth noting that many states began to reform their welfare systems earlier in the decade under waivers from the federal government, so we cannot be sure. And finally, most of the decline in the early 1990s was the result of a decrease in second or higher order births to women who were already teen mothers. It was not until the second half of the decade that a significant drop in first births to teens fellow - economic studies, center on children and birthrates had also declined in the 1970s and early 1980s but in this earlier period all of the decline was due to increased abortion. Significantly, all of the teen birthrate decreases in the 1990s were due to fewer pregnancies, not more y significant is the fact that teens are now having less sex. Up until the 1990s, despite some progress in convincing teens to use contraception, teen pregnancy rates continued to rise because an increasing number of teens were becoming sexually active at an early age, thereby putting themselves at risk of pregnancy. More recently, both better contraceptive use and less sex have contributed to the lowering of that four out of five teen births are to an unwed mother, this drop in the teen birthrate contributed to the leveling off of the proportion of children born outside marriage after 1994 (figure 2). Thus, a focus on teenagers has a major role to play in future reductions of both out-of-wedlock childbearing and the growth of single-parent caused the decline in teen pregnancies and births? However, many experts believe it was some combination of greater public and private efforts to prevent teen pregnancy, the new messages about work and child support embedded in welfare reform, more conservative attitudes among the young, fear of aids and other sexually transmitted diseases, the availability of more effective forms of contraception, and perhaps the strong of these factors have undoubtedly interacted, making it difficult to ever sort out their separate effects. For example, fear of aids may have made teenagers-males in particular, for whom pregnancy has traditionally been of less concern-more cautious and willing to listen to new messages. The ku study also linked this shift in adolescent male attitudes to a change in their growth of public and private efforts to combat teen pregnancy may have also played a role, as suggested by surveys conducted by the national governors’ association, the general accounting office, the american public human services association, and most recently and comprehensively, by child trends. The survey shows that states have dramatically increased their efforts to reduce teen pregnancy (figure 3). In addition to being small, such efforts may or may not be effective in preventing pregnancy. Fortunately, we know more about this topic now than we did even a few years teen pregnancy prevention programs work? Based on a careful review of the scholarly literature completed by douglas kirby of etr associates in santa cruz, california, a number of rigorously evaluated programs have been found to reduce pregnancy rates. One is a program that involves teens in community service with adult supervision and counseling. In addition, a number of less intensive and less costly sex education programs have also been found to be effective in persuading teens to delay sex and/or use contraception. Abstinence only” programs are relatively new and have not yet been subject to careful evaluation, although what research exists has not been encouraging. More importantly, the line between abstinence only and more comprehensive sex education that advocates abstinence but also teaches about contraception is increasingly blurred. What matters is not so much the label but rather what a particular program includes, what the teacher believes, and how that plays out in the classroom. A strong abstinence message is totally consistent with public values, but the idea that the federal government can, or should, rigidly prescribe what goes on in the classroom through detailed curricular guidelines makes little sense. By themselves, teen pregnancy prevention programs cannot change prevailing social norms or attitudes that influence teen sexual behavior. The increase in teen pregnancy rates between the early 1970s and 1990 was largely the result of a change in attitudes about the appropriateness of early premarital sex, especially for young women. As more and more teen girls put themselves at risk of an early pregnancy, pregnancy rates rose. Most state efforts rely on psa campaigns but several national organizations are working with the entertainment industry to affect ch assessing the effectiveness of media campaigns is less extensive and less widely known than research evaluating community-based programs, but it shows that they, too, can be effective. A meta-analysis of 48 different health-related media campaigns from smoking cessation to aids prevention by leslie snyder of the university of connecticut found that, on average, such campaigns caused 7 to 10 percent of those exposed to the campaign to change their behavior (relative to those in a control group). But existing evidence suggests that they are a good way to reach large numbers of teens efforts to reduce teen pregnancy cost-effective? First appearance, the finding by rebecca maynard that each teen mother costs the government an average of $3,200 per year suggests that government could spend as much as $3,200 per teen girl on teen pregnancy prevention and break even in the process. But, of course, not all girls become teen mothers and programs addressing this problem are not 100 percent effective so a lot of this money would be wasted on girls who do not need services and on programs that are less than fully is a simple but useful method to estimate how much money could be spent on teen pregnancy prevention programs and still realize benefits that exceed costs. If we accept maynard’s estimate that reducing teen pregnancy saves $3,200 per birth prevented (in 2001 dollars), the question is how much should we spend to prevent such births? We first have to adjust the $3,200 estimate for the fact that not all teen girls will get pregnant and give birth without the intervention program. We know that about 40 percent of teen girls become pregnant and about half of these (or 20 percent) give birth. This adjustment yields the estimate that $640 (20 percent multiplied by $3,200) might be saved by a universal prevention program. Based on data reviewed by douglas kirby and by leslie snyder, a good estimate is that about one out of every ten girls enrolled in a program or reached by a media campaign might change her behavior in a way that delayed pregnancy beyond her teen years. This second adjustment yields the estimate that universal programs would produce a benefit of 10 percent of $640 or about $64 per participant. As the wertheimer survey showed, actual spending on teen pregnancy prevention programs in the entire nation now averages about $8 per teenage girl. If the potential savings are $64 per teenage female while actual current spending is only $8 per teenage female, government is clearly missing an opportunity for productive investments in prevention programs.

In fact, these calculations-while rough-suggest that government could spend up to eight times ($64 divided by $8) as much as is currently being spent and still break ations for welfare reform reauthorization research and experience over the last decade suggest several lessons for the administration and congress as they consider reauthorization of the 1996 welfare reform , the emphasis in the current law on time limits, work, and child support enforcement should be maintained. To young men, it said “if you father a child out-of-wedlock, you will be responsible for supporting that child. These messages may be far more important than any specific provisions aimed at increasing marriage or reducing out-of-wedlock childbearing, and their effects are likely to cumulate over , the federal government should fund a national resource center to collect and disseminate information about what works to prevent teen pregnancy. States and communities had no way of learning about each other’s efforts and teens themselves had no ready source of information about the risks of pregnancy and the consequences of early unprotected sex. And since a large proportion of non-marital births occurs in this age group, and a significant number of teens continue to be sexually active, education about and access to reproductive health services remains important through title x of the public health service act, the medicaid program, and other federal and state , adequate resources should be provided to states to prevent teen pregnancy, without specifying the means for achieving this goal. In addition, states that work successfully to reduce teen pregnancy should be rewarded for their efforts. A strong argument can be made that the federal government should specify the outcomes it wants to achieve but not prescribe the means for achieving them. This does not mean the federal government should not reward states that achieve certain objectives, such as an increase in the proportion of children living in two-parent families, a decline in the non-marital birth ratio, or a decline in the teen pregnancy or birth rate. But states should decide on the best way to achieve these outcomes, subject only to the caveat that they base their efforts on reliable evidence about what works. The evidence presented above suggests that states should be spending roughly eight times as much as they are now on teen pregnancy , the federal government should fund a national media campaign. Too many public officials and community leaders have assumed that if they could just find the right program, teen pregnancy rates would be reduced. Although there are now a number of programs that have proved effective, the burden of reducing teen pregnancy should not rest on programs alone. Rather, we should build on the fledgling efforts undertaken at the state and national level over the past five years to fund a broad-based, sophisticated media campaign to reduce teen pregnancy. If we want to ensure that more children grow up in stable two-parent families, we must first ensure that more women reach adulthood before they have w, stanley. Check failed, please try , your blog cannot share posts by for the most prepared parents, raising a healthy and happy child is one of life’s major the ability to check off commonly accepted parenting prerequisites — a quality education, a good job, mental and emotional stability, a safe home — can make the challenge easier to tackle and unately, adolescents who become parents often have a shortage of key life skills and other resources that are vital to the parenting process. This sad reality is supported by research showing that, on average, children who are born to teen parents are less likely to ever reach their full potential. And the effects of teenage pregnancy on parent, baby, and community can be ing to the urban child institute, adolescent parenting is one of the major risk factors associated with early childhood development. In addition to its other effects, teen parenting is likely to hinder a child’s social and emotional a baby is born to a teenage mother, he is likely to have more difficulty acquiring cognitive and language skills as well as social and emotional skills like self-control and self-confidence. These abilities are already developing in infancy, and they are essential for school s on early childhood development find that adolescent mothers (19 years of age and younger) are less likely than older mothers to engage in emotionally supportive and responsive parenting. They tend to have less knowledge about child development and effective parenting, and often misjudge their infant or toddler’s ability to adapt and don’t need research to prove that, generally speaking, age brings maturity, self-assuredness, knowledge and experience. Our childhood and teenage years we are acquiring life skills and problem-solving abilities that prepare us to confront and navigate challenges – both unforeseen and anticipated - in adulthood. As a result, those who are beyond their teen years are more likely to make informed choices, use effective coping strategies, and think through important decisions. It’s not hard to see how these qualities lead to more effective a baby is born to an adolescent mother, there are several interrelated risk factors at play, meaning that the likelihood that one or more unfortunate outcomes will occur is stronger. Feelings of embarrassment and shame associated with early pregnancy, or difficulty keeping up academically can also drive them to drop out. The popular mtv reality series “16 and pregnant” offers numerous examples of these unfortunate outcomes, and serves as a glaring reminder of the need to direct more attention and resources to sex education for teens as well as programs encouraging teen mothers to stay in parenting - research has found that teen parents are more likely to engage in harsh parenting practices like yelling and spanking. Having fewer life experiences and coping skills, compared to older parents, can make it harder to handle the irritability and frustration that sometimes arise when caring for a new baby. Depressive symptoms or persistent stress from other sources can increase these feelings of anger and parents – in a majority of cases, adolescent parents are not married and the discovery of pregnancy is unexpected. Too often, teen fathers abandon their parenting responsibilities due to fear and inability to adequately provide for their child, leaving the mother with even less social support and financial unately, teen pregnancy doesn’t only affect the individuals involved — its impact is far-reaching. A less educated population and unskilled workforce negatively affects the economy, and makes it difficult for communities to break aggressive cycles of poverty and crime as resources are consistently shelby county, teen pregnancy is not a new or isolated issue — it is a full-blown epidemic. The latest figures indicate that although the teen birth rate is declining, it is still above the national rate and among the highest in the 2011, national news coverage of shelby county’s teen birth rate sparked a local movement to reduce teen pregnancy. Efforts like the countywide ‘no baby’ campaign helped to increase education for pregnancy prevention methods among teens, and public awareness throughout the a more positive note, it is important to understand that not all babies born to adolescent parents are doomed to fail. For example, some adolescent parents may abandon their own aspirations in an effort to ensure that academic and career success is attainable for their r, research shows that children born to adolescent mothers are more inclined to repeat their parents’ behavior. The urban child institute reports that they are more likely to drop out of school, have more health problems, face unemployment and become teen parents what can be done to stop this cycle from continuing? Parents and educators can share in this responsibility by ensuring that teens gain this knowledge at home and at school. Avoiding discussion on the issue of sex and safe practices only heightens potential for teen pregnancy to ing positive parenting among young mothers can also improve their children’s chances for success. Increasing parents’ knowledge about child development and effective parenting strategies will help them buffer their children from many of the risks that accompany early ng at birth, children begin to develop social and emotional skills. It is important for parents, no matter their age, to ensure their children are adequately prepared to face challenges later in life by maintaining a loving home environment that nurtures their ability to learn about themselves and the world around them. A strong foundation of social and emotional skills will help them make better choices in adulthood, and decrease the probability that they will search for love in the wrong article also appears in the tri-state 10, 2014is there science behind attachment parenting practices?