Reducing the Teen Birth Rate
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
July 2009
Summary
Issue Overview
In 2006, the teen birth rate for 15- to 19-year-olds increased for the first time in 14 years, reaching 42 per 1,000 teens. There is no single explanation for this increase. Researchers point to a trend toward earlier puberty (and early sexual activity) for girls; an overall rise in teen sexual activity; a decline in contraception use by teens; a lessening of the stigma associated with teen birth; and diminished educational and career opportunities stemming from changing economic conditions. Some observers cite a redirection of public attention and resources to other issues, following years of downtrend in the teen pregnancy rate.
Promising Strategies
Six strategies are essential for any plan aimed at reducing the teen birth rate.
- Reinvigorate prevention efforts, intensifying the focus on underlying causes. he rates of teen pregnancy and childbearing are affected by many factors, including ethnicity, family income, neighborhood effects, and exposure to media. While pregnancy occurs among teens of every ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status and geographic location, pregnant teens from low-income families are significantly more likely to give birth. Some researchers believe that factors associated with low-income households, including low educational attainment, lack of employment, and single parenthood, are more influential than poverty itself.
- Help parents succeed in their role as sex educators. Studies consistently show that teenagers—boys and girls alike—who have strong emotional attachments to their parents and are closely supervised by them are much less likely to become sexually active at an early age and far more likely to use contraception on a consistent basis.
- Help adults provide accurate, clear, and consistent information about how to reduce risk-taking behaviors. Today’s Americans are, on average, reaching puberty earlier than previous generations. Teens’ physical maturation is often out of sync with their emotional and cognitive development. To manage this “maturity gap” and make good decisions, teens need accurate information, trustworthy guidance, and realistic approaches.
- Create community-wide plans of action for teen pregnancy prevention, including adolescent reproductive health services. Sex education is most effective in preventing teen pregnancy when it occurs in the context of multifaceted community-based programs that foster close relationships with staff and also provide youth development and health services.
- Give young people a credible vision of a positive future. Young people need programs and services (including youth development programs, service learning opportunities, and school-based extracurricular activities) that help them imagine and pursue the broader range of experiences and opportunities that may be open to them if they delay childbearing and parenting.
To read the whole indicator brief go to Reducing the Teen Birth Rate