child care - Digital Library Collections

ADOLESCENT
PREGNANCY
512,115 babies born to teenage girls in 1995­
499,873-were born to mothers between 15 and 19
years of age. Older adolescents, ages 18 and 19,
were responsible for 60 percent of all teen births.
However, 12,242 babies (slightly more than 2 percent
of the total) were born to mothers younger
than 15.
The majority of teen mothers are White. In
1995, 355,489 babies were born to White teens;
139,621 to Blacks; 9,038 to teens of Asian or Pacific
Island descent; and 7,967 to Native Americans.
Included in these figures are 121,636 babies
born to Hispanic teens, who are not classified as a
separate racial group in NCHS data.
Although White mothers outnumber all others,
the rate of births is higher among minority
youths (see figure 7.3). In 1995 the birth rate
among Black teens ages 15-19 was 96.1 births per
1,000 girls-almost twice the 50.1 rate among
Whites. However, birth rates for Black teens have
fallen markedly and steadily in the past few years.
The 1995 rate for this group represents an 8 percent
drop from 1994 (when the birth rate was
104.5 per 1,000) and a decline ofalmost 17 percent
since 1991 (when the rate peaked at 115.5). The
1995 rate among Hispanic teens, however-106.7
births per 1,000 girls-was about the same as in
1991.
NCHS also reports that three-fourths of the
babies born to teen mothers in 1995 were born to
unmarried teens-only a slight decline from 1994.
This included 68.0 percent of those born to
White teens, 95.3 percent of those born to Black
teens, and 67.8 percent of those born to Hispanic
teens.
Finally, about four in five births to teenagers
are first births, and the rate at which teens have
second births (as well as subsequent ones) has
slowed. In 1996, 22 percent of all births to 15- to
19-year-olds were repeat births, down from 25 percent
during 1990-92.
Social risk factors associated with teen pregnancy.
In reviewing data from the U.S. Department
of Education's National Education Longitudinal
Study, Child Trends (a research organization that
evaluates indicators of child and adolescent wellbeing)
identified four key risk factors associated
with having a baby before the age of 20. These
factors were early school failure, early behavioral
problems, family dysfunction, and poverty. The
more of these factors that were present when a girl
Figure 7.2 T••n Birth R••••: In'.rn.'lon.1 COlllp.rlson.
Births per 1,000 females ages 15-19, selected countries
American teens 60
have far more
babies than their
counterparts in
Japan, Australia,
50
40
30
Canada, or 20
Europe.
10
0
1995 1992 1990 1992 1990 1993 1993 1992 1993 1990 1991 1992 1991
United Unlled Canada Austria Australia Norway Sweden Denmark Spain Itoly France Netherlands Japan
Slates Kingdom
Source: Susan Williams McElroy and Kristin Anderson Moore, "Trends over Time in Teenage
Pregnancy and Childbearing: The Critical Changes," in Rebecca A. Maynard, ed., Kids Having Kids:
Economic Costs and Socia' Consequences of Teen Pregnancy (Urban Institute Press, 1997).
CHI L D R EN'S D E FEN S E FUN D 95