Births to Teenagers

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Posted by rfathers on February 11, 2009

One of the more significant causes of fathers being separated from their children is the incidence of Teenage Pregnancy and Birth to Teenagers.

In my book On the Outside Looking In we noted that BIRTHS TO UN-WED MOTHERS MEANS BIRTHS TO UN-WED FATHERS. The main problem here is that the mothers generally (in overwhelming numbers) get stuck with taking care of the babies while the fathers are not held accountable – as much. This creates a disadvantage for everyone, including the father because if he does not take responsibility then he does not learn to be responsible and will probably repeat the performance.

In the report cited below, it was concluded that BIRTHS TO TEENAGE MOTHERS DOES NOT MEAN BIRTHS TO TEENAGE FATHERS. More births are occurring to teenage mothers from boys and men who are older than the mothers than to teenage mothers who are impregnated by teenage boys! What does that tell you?

The Report: “Births: Final Data for 2006″

On January 7, 2009 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) released it latest report on birth in the U.S. for the year 2006. This report held some interesting statistics on teen birth rates (ages 15 to 19). Below are some highlights from the report:

Statistics

• 4,265,555 births in the United States in 2006.
• 435,436 births to teenagers, 15-19 years old (10.2% of total births).
• That is a 3% increase in the birthrate for teenagers.
• This increase in 2006 ended a 14-year period of continuous decline in the teen birth rate.
• Teenage birth rates increased in 26 states.
• Mississippi leads the nation with the highest teen birth rate, 6.8% (68 out of 1,000), New Mexico is second with 6.4% and Texas is third with 6.3%.
• New Hampshire had the lowest rate of 1.9% (19 per 1,000).
• Guttmacher Institute Researcher David Landry noted that “Its more costly for youth in the Northeast to have a teen baby than for youth in the South, in terms of opportunities they’ll miss.” Kids in mostly white New Engalnd likely would delay child birth (news.yahoo.com, 1/7/09).

Other Issues

• Health: Teen births have a elevated risk of poor birth outcomes including: low birth weight, pre-term births, infant mortality.
• Social: limited educational and financial resources available to teenage mothers.
• Social: Public cost (to the government) of teenage child bearing is about $9.1 billion yearly.
• One of the Causes: Growing media portrayals of celebrity pregnancy do not help (news.yahoo.com, 1/7/09).
• Problematic Stats on Fathers: Age of the father is not reported on birth certificates for 14% of all births, 25% of births to women younger than 25 and 36% of all unmarried births.

For More Information

• The 102 page report is entitled: “Births: Final Data for 2006″ and is published by the National Center for Health Statistics which is part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the Department of Health and Human Services. The report is available in printable pdf format: Get Report.
• Wikipedia has an interesting (although dated) article on international teenage pregnancy Wikipedia – Teen Pregnancy

We will provide more information from this report in future posts. Please let us know what you think about the information in the report in a comment below.

Post your comments below, including additional sources of information on teenage pregnancy, methods for prevention, personal experience, resources etc.