Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting

In 1976, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reported that the rate of pregnancy for 15- to 19-year-olds was 101.4 per 1,000 adolescents. This rate peaked in 1990, at 116.8 pregnancies per 1,000 adolescents. This means that, in 1990, 11.7 percent of U.S. teenagers were pregnant, compared to 7.6 percent in 2002. Overall, about three-quarters of a million teens become pregnant over a one-year period, [Page 923]and approximately 8 in 10 of these pregnancies are unintended. Between 5 and 6 out of 10 of these pregnancies end in birth, while about 3 in 10 end in abortion, and the rest end in spontaneous miscarriage.

Pregnancy rates have historically been higher among racial and ethnic minority teens than among white teens. For example, in 1990, the pregnancy rate for non-Hispanic white teens was 86.8 per 1,000 adolescents. In contrast, it was more than 2.5 times as high for non-Hispanic blacks (at 232.7) and nearly twice as high for Hispanics (at 167.4). Since 1990, rates have fallen for all groups; however, the rate for non-Hispanic blacks is still more than 2.5 times higher than for whites (138.9 vs. 49.0); and the rate for Hispanics, which has not declined as quickly, is similarly high (135.2).

U.S. teen pregnancy rates have historically been higher than those for other developed countries. For example, research conducted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute shows that, in the mid-1990s, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden had teen pregnancy rates in the range of 20–25 per 1,000 adolescents. Also, Canada and England and Wales had rates in the range of 45 per 1,000 adolescents. Part of the reason for higher pregnancy rates in the United States is thought to be lower levels of contraceptive use among teenagers in the United States, perhaps due to cultural norms and greater restrictions on access.

Teen birth rates followed a pattern similar to that of pregnancy rates. However, after falling 34 percent between 1991 and 2005, in 2006 birth rates for this age group rose by 3 percent. Trends by race and Hispanic origin varied somewhat: 5 percent for non-Hispanic black teens, 2 percent for Hispanic teens, 3 percent for non-Hispanic white teenagers, and 4 percent for Native American teens, with no change for Asian teens. Race/ethnic differences in the probability of having a first birth by age 20 are also significant; in 2006, 22 percent of non-Hispanic white teens had their first birth under age 20, compared to 50 percent of non-Hispanic black teens and 65 percent of Hispanics.

Even when the rate of teen births declined, the proportion of all teen births that occurred to unmarried teens increased significantly. For example, according to NCHS statistics, in 1960 the percentage of teen births that were nonmarital was 14.8; this increased to 40.3 percent in 1976 and to 84.4 percent by 2006. This trend is due to a drop in the likelihood that young women marry during their teens (in connection with a pregnancy or not), as well as a drop in the birth rate for married teenagers. Also, although a high proportion of teen births are nonmarital, teens do not account for the majority of all births to unmarried women. In 2000, 72 percent of nonmarital births occurred to women ages 20 and older.

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