Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years

[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.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

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.

It is also the case that certain racial and ethnic groups are disproportionately represented in forms of crime and deviance. In this instance, being represented in rates of teen pregnancy, out of wedlock births, and single motherhood.