Pregnancy and Childbearing Among U.S. Teens

Despite Recent Declines in Teenage Pregnancy Rates, 31 Percent of American Teens Still Experience Pregnancy

• Between 1990 and 2002, the national teen pregnancy rate fell 35 percent, from 116.8 to a record low of 76.4 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19 (Ventura et al., 2006). The teen pregnancy rate in the U.S., however, is the highest among the most developed countries in the world, including Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden ("Birth, Abortion...," 2006; National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2006). Eighty-six percent of this decline is a result of improved contraceptive use and the use of more effective contraceptive methods among sexually active teenagers, and 14 percent of this decline is attributable to increased abstinence (Santelli et al., 2007). Another study points out that another cause for the reduction of teen pregnancy is that adolescents are increasingly substituting other kinds of sex play for vaginal intercourse (Weiss & Bullough, 2004).

• In 2002, approximately 757,000 U.S. teenagers ages 15–19 became pregnant — approximately 25 percent less than in 1990 (Ventura et al., 2006).

• About 31 percent of American women become pregnant before the age of 20. Nearly 13 percent of the sexually active American men between the ages of 15–19 report that they have fathered a pregnancy (Suellentrop & Flanigan, 2006).

• Approximately 80 percent of teenage pregnancies are unintended. In 2002, they accounted for one-fifth of all accidental pregnancies in the U.S. (Finer & Henshaw, 2006; National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2006).

• Teen pregnancy rates vary widely by race and ethnicity. In 2002, the pregnancy rate for non-Hispanic white teens was 49 per 1,000 women 15–19 years of age. The pregnancy rate for Hispanic teens was 135.2. For African American teens it was 138.9 (Ventura et al., 2006).

• Among teenage pregnancies in 2002, 56.1 percent resulted in birth, 28.4 percent in abortion, and 15.5 percent in miscarriage (Ventura et al., 2006).

Factors that Increase the Risk of Teen Pregnancy

• Age of first sex is an important determinant of pregnancy risk. Forty-six percent of teenage girls and 22 percent of teenage boys who engage in their first sexual experience before the age of 15 have been involved in a pregnancy. For teens who engage in their first sex experience at age 15 or older, the risk declines to 25 percent and nine percent, respectively (Suellentrop & Flanigan, 2006).

• Teens who use contraception during their first sexual experience are less likely to experience a pregnancy. Twenty-seven percent of teen girls and 12 percent of teen boys who used contraception at first sex have been involved in a pregnancy. For teens who did not use contraception at first sex, 43 percent of girls and 18 percent of boys have been involved in a pregnancy (Suellentrop & Flanigan, 2006).

• Teenage girls with older partners are more likely to become pregnant than those with partners closer in age. A study found that 6.7 percent of women aged 15–17 have partners six or more years older than they are. The pregnancy rate for this group is 3.7 times as high as the rate for those whose partner is no more than two years older (Darroch et al., 1999).

• The greater the number of sex partners, the more likely teens are to be involved in a pregnancy. Thirty-seven percent of teen girls and 18 percent of teen boys with three or more partners have either experienced or have been involved in a pregnancy. When the number of partners drops to less than two, only 25 percent of teen girls and nine percent of teen boys have either experienced or have been involved in a pregnancy (Suellentrop & Flanigan, 2006).

The Rate of Teenage Childbearing in the U.S. Is the Highest in the Most Developed Countries.

• The U.S. teenage birth rate is the highest among the most developed countries in the world: more than two and a half times as high as Australia's, nearly three times as high as Canada's, nearly four times as high as Germany's, nearly five and a half times as high as France's, nearly seven and a half times as high as Japan's, and nearly nine times as high as the Netherlands' (Hamilton et al., 2006; United Nations, 2007).

• Reasons for the lower rates of teenage childbearing in these countries include
  
  • mandatory, medically accurate sexuality education programs that provide comprehensive information and encourage teens to make responsible choices
    
  • easy access to contraception and other forms of reproductive health care, including abortion
    
  • social acceptance of adolescent sexual expression as normal and healthy
    
  • straightforward public health media campaigns
    
  • government support for the right of teens to accurate information and confidential services (Berne & Huberman, 1999)

• In 2005, 10 percent of all U.S. births were to teens (Hamilton et al., 2006).

• Preliminary findings show that in 2005, 414,406 women aged 15–19 gave birth, a rate of 40.4 live births per 1,000 women in this age group. This figure marks a two percent decrease from the 2004 rate and a 35 percent decrease from the 1991 rate. This is a record low birthrate among U.S. teens (Hamilton et al., 2006).

• The preliminary birthrate in 2005 for young teens was 0.7 births per 1,000 women aged 10–14. This reduction in birthrate is extremely encouraging because young teens have a higher risk of pregnancy complications. (Hamilton et al., 2006).

• The preliminary teenage birthrate in 2005 was 21.4 births per 1,000 women aged 15–17, and 69.9 births per 1,000 women aged 18–19. That year, the birthrate for teens aged 15–19 was 81.5 per 1,000 for Hispanics, 60.9 per 1,000 for African Americans, and 26 per 1,000 for non-Hispanic whites (Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2007; Hamilton et al., 2006).

• Eighty-three percent of teens aged 15–17 — 90 percent aged 15–17 and 79 percent aged 18–19 — giving birth in 2005 were unmarried (Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2007; Hamilton et al., 2006; Ikramulla et al., 2007).  In 2004, teens accounted for only 24 percent of all births outside of marriage — a decline from 50 percent in 1970 (AGI, 1999; Martin et al., 2006).

Teenage Childbearing and Parenting

• In general, teenage mothers do not fare as well as their peers who delay childbearing:
  
  • Their family incomes are lower.
    
  • They are more likely to be poor and receive public assistance.
    
  • They are less educated.
    
  • They are less likely to be married.
    
  • Their children lag in standards of early development.
    (Breheny & Stephens, 2007; Hoffman, 2006; National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2003; National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2006).
  
  

• Only 63 percent of teenagers who give birth before the age of 18, and 74 percent of teenagers who give birth between the ages of 18 and 19 years either graduate from high school or receive their GED, as compared to approximately 85 percent of women who delay childbirth until their early twenties (Hoffman, 2006; Levin-Epstein & Schwartz, 2005).

• By the age of 30, only five percent of young teen mothers and 10 percent of older teen mothers complete at least two years of college, and less than two percent of young teen mothers and three percent of older teen mothers obtain a college degree.  Comparatively, 21 percent of women who delay childbirth complete at least two years of college, and nine percent graduate (Hoffman, 2006).

• Nearly 80 percent of teen mothers receive some form of public assistance, i.e. food stamps, housing assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or WIC vouchers (Acs & Koball, 2003).  Teen mothers not only receive more financial assistance, but they also receive this assistance longer than do women who delay their childbirth (Hoffman, 2006; Levin-Epstein & Schwartz, 2005).

• In 2001, only 30 percent of teenage mothers received child support payments (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2004).

• Although not as severe as those for teen mothers, the effects of early childbearing are also negative for teen fathers. They are more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse or drug dealing, and they complete fewer years of schooling than their childless peers (Tan & Quinlivan, 2006). One study found that the fathers of children born to teen mothers earned an estimated average of $3,400 less per year than the fathers of children born to mothers who were 20 or 21, over the course of 18 years following the birth of their first child (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1998).

• The children of teenage parents face severe health, economic, and social consequences. Because one-third of pregnant teens do not receive adequate prenatal care, their babies are 23 percent more likely to be low birth weight; they are more likely to have childhood health problems, and to be hospitalized than those born to older mothers (AGI, 1999; Martin et al., 2006; National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2006).

• In 2004, the infant mortality rate for children born to teen mothers was significantly higher than the national infant mortality rate — 9.75 deaths per 1,000 live births versus 6.78, respectively. The infant mortality rate was highest for teens younger than 15 years of age — 17.11 deaths per 1,000 live births (Mathews & MacDorman, 2007).

• The offspring of teenage mothers are more likely to be abused or neglected than those of women who delay childbearing, and they are less likely to receive proper nutrition, health care, and cognitive and social stimulation (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1998; Maynard, 1997). On average, a child born to a teenage mother visits a medical provider 3.8 times per year, versus 4.3 times for a child born to a mother over the age of 20 years (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2004).

• Children born to teen mothers are more likely to live in poverty. Seventy-eight percent of children born to unmarried teen mothers who did not graduate from high school live in poverty. Comparatively, the poverty rate for children born to mothers who postponed childbirth, are currently married, and received a high school diploma is nine percent (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2007).

• Children born to teen mothers are also at greater risk of social behavioral problems and lower intellectual and academic achievement — one study found that children of teenage mothers are almost three times as likely to be incarcerated during their adolescence or early 20s as are the children of older mothers (Maynard, 1997).

• Children born to teen mothers are less likely to graduate from high school and more likely to be unemployed and to become teenage parents themselves than those born to women who delay childbearing (Maynard, 1997).

• Experts estimate that the annual costs of births to teens totals about $9.1 billion — or $1,430 per child per year — in tax revenues, public assistance, child health care, foster care, and involvement with the criminal justice system (Hoffman, 2006).

Few Teenage Mothers Choose Placing Their Children for Adoption

• More than 50 years ago, 95 percent of unmarried teen mothers placed their child for adoption (Resnick, 1992). Today, only two or three of every 100 teen pregnancies lead to births for which the mother makes an adoption plan (National Committee for Adoption, 1989; PRCH, 2006).

• Fewer than 10 percent of babies born to unmarried teenagers are placed in adoptive homes (National Committee for Adoption, 1989).

• In 40 states and the District of Columbia, a mother who is a minor may legally place her child for adoption without her parent's involvement (Guttmacher Institute, 2007).

Teenage Abortion Rates Are Declining

• Since 1990, there has been a decline in teen abortion rates — in 2002, 21.7 out of every 1,000 young women aged 15–19 had abortions, compared to 40.3 per 1,000 in 1990 (Ventura et al., 2006). This decline is a result of fewer teen pregnancies, and in recent years, fewer teens choosing abortion as well as increased difficulties in obtaining abortions (Finer & Henshaw, 2006).
• Not all states report abortion to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but in 2005, 17.4 percent of all abortions in the U.S. that were reported to the CDC were provided to women under age 20 — the total number of abortions in this age group was approximately 148,000 (CDC, 2006).
• Approximately 80 percent of teenage women younger than 17 and approximately 70 percent of teenage women aged 18–19 identified interference with school or career aspirations and financial problems as reasons for choosing an abortion (Finer et al., 2005).
• Access to confidential abortion services is essential to teenagers' health. Sixty-one percent of parents are involved in their daughters' abortion decisions. Those teens whose parents are not involved are frequently in unstable or abusive family situations (Henshaw & Kost, 1992). Forty-four states have laws on the books that require parental consent or notification prior to a minor's abortion. As of January 2007, 35 of these laws are either currently in effect or scheduled to take effect in the near future. Laws that mandate parental involvement only victimize teens; they do not prevent them from obtaining abortion services. Instead, these laws, which contain judicial bypass provisions, increase the delays teens experience in receiving services, simultaneously increasing the physical and emotional health risks, as well as the costs.

Declines in Teenage Pregnancy and Childbearing Are Responsible for Overall Improvement in Child Well-Being

• Had the teenage birth rate not declined over the last decade
  • teen mothers would have given birth to 1.2 million additional children
    
  • the number of children living in poverty would have risen by 460,000
    
  • 700,000 additional children would be living in single parent homes (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2005).

• The decline in the teenage birth rate is responsible for approximately 26 percent of the decrease in the number of young children living in poverty, and 68 percent of the decrease in the number of young children living in single parent homes (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2005).

Cited References

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Lead Author — Deborah Weiss
Revised by — Deborah Golub, MPH

Published: 01.01.06 | Updated: 12.28.07

Published by the Katharine Dexter McCormick Library

©2006 Planned Parenthood^® Federation of America, Inc.
All rights reserved.


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