Supplemental Lecture Material
“Facts & Stats on Teen Pregnancy”
 

“Whatever Happened to Childhood?  The Problem of Teen Pregnancy in the U.S.”
National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  Washington, D.C. (1997).

 Some questions we need to ponder on teen pregnancy in the U.S. today:

How bad is the problem?
-  The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world.  In 1997, teen pregnancy cost the U.S. at least $7 billion.
-  More than 4 out of 10 young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20, nearly one million a year.  Eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended and 80 percent are to unmarried teens.
-  The teen birth rate has actually undergone a gradual decline from 1991 to 1996 with an overall decline of 12 percent for those aged 15 to 19.  The largest decline since 1991 by race or ethnicity was for black women. (The birth rate for black teens aged 15 to 19 fell 21 percent between 1991 and 1996 [Hispanic teen birth rates declined 5 percent between 1995 and 1996.] Hispanic teens now have the highest birth rates.)

Who suffers the consequences?
-  Only one-third of teen mothers receives a high school diploma.
-  Nearly 80 percent of teen mothers end up on welfare.
-  The children of teenage mothers have lower birth weights, are more likely to perform poorly in school, and are at greater risk of abuse or neglect.
-  The sons of teen mothers are 13 percent more likely to end up in prison while teen daughters are 22 percent more likely to become teen mothers themselves.

What helps prevent teen pregnancy?
-  Religious or moral values.
-  Fear of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.
-  Not having met the appropriate partner.
-  Strong emotional attachments to parents.
-  Being raised by both parents (biological or adoptive) from birth.  (At age 16, 22 percent of girls from intact families and 44 percent of other girls have had sex at least once.)

The End