Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years

[FHwku]

congrats to Mississippi for finishing first with 68.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19 in 2006)

New Mexico and Texas rounded out the top three, but don't worry. i'm sure they're still at it.

my ol' Kentucky home was 68.8 per 1,000 in 1991, and 49.1 in 2005. that's -29 in 14 years. 2006 stats: 54.6.

my 1991-2005 stats come from the NVSR Vol. 56, #6 table on pg. 11

i like looking at charts n tables.



* * * * *

Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/07.../teenbirth.htm

National Vital Statistics Report Volume 56, Number 6 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_06.pdf

[Jill1228]

Hmm. I guess that abstinence only sex education policy was a big assed flop!

[RU OX Alum]

they took away condoms and this happens, i hope they start giving them out again

[Munchkin03]

I blame Juno and Jamie Lynn, those hussies!

Oh, and that Bristol Palin, too!

[KSig RC]

BITCHES WANNA BANG!

MOSTLY IN THE DEEP SOUTH APPARENTLY

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

BITCHES WANNA BANG!

MOSTLY IN THE DEEP SOUTH APPARENTLY

This really made me laugh. Something about the use of "apparently."

This is actually a big improvement for Georgia in terms of relative rankings, I think. Back in the 90s I think we were typically one of the top three all the time.

And you know, no one took away the condoms, people. Even if your school had an abstinence only program funded by the feds, that doesn't actually prevent a different program from offering comprehensive sex ed. I bet you could count on one hand the number of schools who actually gave out condoms before who quit doing, if you could find any.

What I'm guessing this reflects is some sort of relaxation of fears about HIV in that age group. I think HIV scared a generation of teens to the point that sex without a condom was practically unthinkable, but I guess they've all grown up and there haven't been any high profile heterosexual infections lately.

And I think that what KSUviolet says applies some too. At my first job teaching, I had one girl who had her second baby before she was a senior in high school. The problem wasn't knowing where babies came from or having access to birth control. It was just that if she saw herself working in the local K-Mart distribution center all her life, it wasn't that big impediment to her plans to have a kid or two and she loved them.

[UGAalum94]

This may sound racist and classist and I'll just take the heat, but I suspect that for the most part rates are steady for different demographic and economic groups across state lines. Some states are just blessed with more diverse populations that others. ETA: looking at more data, I've got to say, I'm probably wrong. I can't really tell though because for some states, I think the economic situation may explain a lot and I don't have data for that. The south must just be that much more fertile.

ETA:http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf
It's from 2006.
This has more info, even of the type that DSTren notes.

"Fifty percent or more of teenage pregnancies end in abortion in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia."

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

This may sound racist and classist and I'll just take the heat, but I suspect that for the most part rates are steady for different demographic and economic groups across state lines. Some states are just blessed with more diverse populations that others. ETA: looking at more data, I've got to say, I'm probably wrong. I can't really tell though because for some states, I think the economic situation may explain a lot and I don't have data for that. The south must just be that much more fertile.

ETA:http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf
It's from 2006.
This has more info, even of the type that DSTren notes.

"Fifty percent or more of teenage pregnancies end in abortion in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia."

I think it has a lot to do with class first, and then race. Even in poor areas (like Mississippi!), the teen pregnancy rate is probably split pretty evenly among black and white. When I was in HS, some girls got pregnant, but only the poorer ones--black and white--kept the kids. Part of it was that they probably figured that their parents, who were younger and less educated, "did fine," so why couldn't they do just as "well"?

Also, despite the fact that the Gloucester teen pregnancy pact was a hoax in that they didn't agree to get pregnant en masse, it's still an economically depressed town with a stark rich/poor divide. Those girls were all white, but they still didn't think they had any other options, so keeping a pregnancy was more palatable to them then it would have been to a girl on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

This may sound racist and classist and I'll just take the heat, but I suspect that for the most part rates are steady for different demographic and economic groups across state lines. Some states are just blessed with more diverse populations that others. ETA: looking at more data, I've got to say, I'm probably wrong. I can't really tell though because for some states, I think the economic situation may explain a lot and I don't have data for that. The south must just be that much more fertile.

ETA:http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf
It's from 2006.
This has more info, even of the type that DSTren notes.

"Fifty percent or more of teenage pregnancies end in abortion in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia."

There's nothing racist or classist about the bolded statement.

Structurally: The South has a higher concentration of people from lower socioeconomic status and racial and ethnic minorities (which is correlated with lower socioeconomic status). As there is a "Bible Belt" there is also a "poverty belt" and a "black and brown belt."

Culturally: The rest can be explained through the lack of sex (and overall) education, the cultural acceptness of (premarital sex and) single motherhood in many communities, and as you mentioned the abortion-birth ratio. Perhaps abortion-birth ratio won't explain that much of the variation in teen births since some of the states may have significant teen abortions and births.

The above structural and cultural effects were long believed to be buffered by religiosity, traditionalism and "morality." Unfortunately, generally speaking, norms have changed and traditional social ties have declined.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

There's nothing racist or classist about the bolded statement.

Structurally: The South has a higher concentration of people from lower socioeconomic status and racial and ethnic minorities (which is correlated with lower socioeconomic status). As there is a "Bible Belt" there is also a "poverty belt" and a "black and brown belt."

Culturally: The rest can be explained through the lack of sex (and overall) education, the cultural acceptness of (premarital sex and) single motherhood in many communities, and as you mentioned the abortion-birth ratio. Perhaps abortion-birth ratio won't explain that much of the variation in teen births since some of the states may have significant teen abortions and births.

The above structural and cultural effects were long believed to be buffered by religiosity, traditionalism and "morality." Unfortunately, generally speaking, norms have changed and traditional social ties have declined.

There's always a risk of being accused of having said, "well minorities are responsible for/participate in all of society's ills at a disproportionate rate" and that's what I was thinking might happen. You've accurately stated what I was thinking in your "structurally" and "culturally" paragraphs.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

And I think that what KSUviolet says applies some too. At my first job teaching, I had one girl who had her second baby before she was a senior in high school. The problem wasn't knowing where babies came from or having access to birth control. It was just that if she saw herself working in the local K-Mart distribution center all her life, it wasn't that big impediment to her plans to have a kid or two.

Exactly. For example, in my community, almost everyone is college-bound (or headed to some form of higher ed) after HS. So having a baby is a pretty big impediment to that. It's also true that most of their parents are also college grads (or have some form of post-HS education), so that's what they see as the norm. Having a baby in HS or soon afterward is just not the norm.

In contrast, there are communities in which most girls aren't thinking college or higher ed after school. Their parents and friends had babies in or shortly after HS. They also didn't go to college or anything and just work at *insert local place in town where everybody works here* So having x number of kids and working at ______ is the norm.

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

BITCHES WANNA BANG!

MOSTLY IN THE DEEP SOUTH APPARENTLY

Well, the heat and humidity does make a lot of things more sexy.

[LΩVE]

I was shocked in my college Health class by the amount of people that thought condoms were 99% effective, that pulling out was about the same, and that didn't know how to probably use the pill (like some thought as long as you took it almost every day it would day, but that skipping a day wouldn't hurt anything). My high school health class was less than useless when it came to sex, but my parents educated me (though I was brought up in a strictly abstinence-only home with extremely Christian parents I was taught about condoms, the pill, etc. and how effective they were) by talking to me and sending me to a program in the area when I was in 5th or 6th grade. So I didn't understand how ignorant some people were. Also, pregnancy was a more important worry than STD's, even with people that had frequently changed partners and didn't use condoms.

I don't know if it isn't taught, if people just don't listen, or if it's the teen attitude of "it won't happen to me", but some people just don't get it. In my hometown teen pregnancy didn't happen, literally. (Or at least births didn't). Not one person had a baby the entire time I was there. I expected it to be a relatively uncommon occurrence in college as most people in college are there to achieve a degree and a job and realize that a baby will make those things more difficult to obtain. But I know a LOT of new moms. They've made the best of it and of course they love their kids, but their lives are harder now, and most don't have a father figure. I wish people were more careful.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by FHwku

congrats to Mississippi for finishing first with 68.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19 in 2006)





* * * * *

Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/07.../teenbirth.htm

National Vital Statistics Report Volume 56, Number 6 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_06.pdf

Finally! Mississippi tops a list for SOMETHING!

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Finally! Mississippi tops a list for SOMETHING!

Charles Barkley: "I can't screw up Alabama [as Governor] - we're 48th in everything, and Mississippi and Arkansas aren't going anywhere."