Why is the Teen Birth Rate in the United States so High and Why Does it Matter?

Kearney, Melissa S.; Levine, Phillip B.

doi:10.3386/w17965

Cited by 118 publications

(153 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(30 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

148

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Neither pronatalist nor antinatalist policies are popular in the United States, suggesting that policymakers do not have strong opinions about the current overall fertility rate. By contrast, the U.S. teen fertility rate is the highest in the developed world (Kearney and Levine 2012), and policymakers of all political persuasions generally agree that teen fertility should be reduced. Although recent research argues that teen fertility is a symptom rather than a cause of disadvantage (Kearney and Levine 2012), disagreement on this point remains, and concerns about the impact of having a teen mother on child outcomes persist (National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Community-Wide Job Loss and Teenage Fertility: Evidence From North Carolina

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using North Carolina data for the period 1990-2010, we estimate the effects of economic downturns on the birthrates of 15-to 19-year-olds, using county-level business closings and layoffs as a plausibly exogenous source of variation in the strength of the local economy. We find little effect of job losses on the white teen birthrate. For black teens, however, job losses to 1 % of the working-age population decrease the birthrate by around 2 %. Birth declines start five months after the job loss and then last for more than one year. Linking the timing of job losses and conceptions suggests that black teen births decline because of increased terminations and perhaps also because of changes in prepregnancy behaviors. National data on risk behaviors also provide evidence that black teens reduce sexual activity and increase contraception use in response to job losses. Job losses seven to nine months after conception do not affect teen birthrates, indicating that teens do not anticipate job losses and lending confidence that job losses are "shocks" that can be viewed as quasi-experimental variation. We also find evidence that relatively advantaged black teens disproportionately abort after job losses, implying that the average child born to a black teen in the wake of job loss is relatively more disadvantaged.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These types of changes have been linked to increased teen sexual activity (Buhi and Goodson 2007;Carpenter 2005;Kirby 2001a;Vesely et al 2004). Moreover, Kearney and Levine (2012) argued that U.S. teens exhibit higher fertility when they face greater "despair" about the prospects of advancing economically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Wide Job Loss and Teenage Fertility: Evidence From North Carolina

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Among urban youth, teenage pregnancy is more normative due to its higher rates [28]. These negative outcomes are further compounded in metropolitan areas by elevated rates of poverty, incarceration, dense sexual networks, discrimination, racial segregation, and lack of health insurance and regular sources of care [1,9,22,50].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Patterns of Adolescent Marijuana and Alcohol Use and Their Joint Association with Sexual Risk Behavior and Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Green

Musci

Matson³

et al. 2017

J Urban Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban populations disproportionately experience poor sexual outcomes, including high rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. However, the contribution of substance use across adolescence to poor sexual outcomes in young adulthood has not been investigated in depth, despite offering opportunities for more targeted prevention. This study aimed to estimate joint trajectories of adolescent alcohol and marijuana use to determine if they relate differently to four sexual outcomes: multiple sexual partners, sex without a condom, teenage pregnancy, and contraction of a sexually transmitted infection in young adulthood (by age 25). Data came from a longitudinal study of urban youth followed from age 6 to age 25, with annual assessments during adolescence and young adulthood (n = 608). The sample showed high levels of sexual risk, with young adults on average having sex without a condom once in the past month, 28.5% having multiple sexual partners in the past month, one quarter having contracted a sexually transmitted infection, and over 60% of the women being pregnant as a teenager and 36% of the men having gotten a partner pregnant. Applying longitudinal latent profile analysis to estimate joint trajectories of alcohol and marijuana use from grades 8-12, we identified four classes representing high dual use, moderate alcohol use, moderate alcohol use with increasing marijuana use, and nonuse. Class membership differently predicted all four outcomes investigated with high dual users having the highest level of teenage pregnancy and the increasing marijuana trajectory having the highest risk of engaging with multiple sexual partners in the past month. Results suggest implications for both sexual risk and substance use prevention for urban youth.

show abstract

“…Early research supported a commonly held notion that teenage pregnancy leads to adverse outcomes, particularly in the areas of education, employment, and marriage (Card and Wise, 1978;Grogger and Bronars, 1993). However, recent studies employing more-rigorous methods have shown that at least a portion of these effects, in fact, may not be causally related to the pregnancy itself, but instead may be due to the disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances of the teenagers when they become pregnant (Hotz, McElroy, and Sanders, 2005;Kane, Morgan, Harris, and Guilkey, 2013;Kearney and Levine, 2012;Levine and Painter, 2003). As a result, there is a growing consensus that the adverse effects directly attributable to teen pregnancy may be less than originally believed, particularly in the long term.…”

Section: Previous Research On Cas-carrera Pregnancy Prevention Programsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Cost Analysis of an Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program In-School Model Site

Kase¹,

Kilburn²

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why is the Teen Birth Rate in the United States so High and Why Does it Matter?

Cited by 118 publications

References 29 publications

Community-Wide Job Loss and Teenage Fertility: Evidence From North Carolina

Community-Wide Job Loss and Teenage Fertility: Evidence From North Carolina

Developmental Patterns of Adolescent Marijuana and Alcohol Use and Their Joint Association with Sexual Risk Behavior and Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Cost Analysis of an Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program In-School Model Site

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About