Adolescent Pregnancy and Births

Birthrates

To examine trends over time, records are kept of the number of births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 in the United States and several other countries. These records show that births to teenage females have declined over the past decade in the United States. The number of births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 was 45.9 in 2001, compared with 62.1 per 1,000 in 1991. The birthrate has declined among all major ethnic groups in the United States, but the birthrate is highest for Hispanic teens (92 per 1,000), followed by Blacks (82 per 1,000), and non-Hispanic Whites (30 per 1,000). Although the birthrate has declined, the United States continues to have one of the highest teenage birthrates among developed countries. Countries with very low birthrates (e.g., Japan, Italy, Spain) have fewer than 10 births per 1,000 teenage females (Child Trends, 2001, 2002).

Sexual Activity

One of the factors contributing to the declining birthrate among teens in the United States is a decrease in the percentage of teens who have ever had sexual intercourse. Each year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) survey a sample of high school students about their behaviors, including whether or not they have ever had sexual intercourse (CDC, 2001). In 2001, 45.6% of high school students reported ever having had intercourse, compared with 54.1% in 1991. Sixty-one percent of high school seniors reported ever having had sexual intercourse in 2001, and 22% of the seniors reported having had sex with four or more partners during their lifetimes. The number of sexual partners is of concern because of the high rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among teenagers in the United States. The CDC survey also asked the students about pregnancies. Among the seniors, 7.1% reported that they had ever been pregnant or had gotten someone pregnant.

Another national survey (Child Trends, 2002) asked teens where they were the first time they had sexual intercourse. Most teens had their first sexual experiences in either their partners' family homes (34%) or their own homes (22%). They were also asked about the time of day when they first had intercourse; 42% had intercourse late at night (10 p.m. to 7 a.m.), and 28% had sex during the evening (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.). Although there has been much concern about teens being unsupervised between the time school gets out and their parents get home from work, only 15% of the teens reported having their first sexual experiences in the late afternoon (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.).

Factors Associated with Sexual Activity

The CDC survey showed that nearly half of all high school students were sexually experienced. Researchers have examined factors that are associated with early sexual activity to try to understand why some teens are sexually active while others are not. The types of factors examined include characteristics of the teens themselves, family characteristics, and extrafamilial factors, such as peer groups and neighborhood characteristics (Manlove et al., 2002; Small & Luster, 1994).

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