Bringing Down the Teen Birth Rate Is Like Dieting, but Harder

News this week that the birth rate is declining among teens was welcome indeed. But the explanation that it may have something to do with the ailing U.S. economy?

Puleeze.

How many 16-, 17- or 18-year-olds do you know who, as the t-shirts and jeans are coming off would stop and say, "Oh, wait. I just read that household debt in this country exceeds income. I (or you) better put on a condom."

Four out of five teen pregnancies are unplanned, so the economic rationale just doesn't work. Pregnancy prevention at that age is complicated, and we're only beginning to realize how much so. In fact, it's not out of the question to ask if the birth rate is about as low as it can go.

From the mid 1950s through the mid 1970s, the teen birth rate dropped dramatically. After a period of stagnation, the rate began dropping again in 1991. However, it stalled in 2003 and hasn't changed much since.

We worried when births to teens and young adults crept up slightly in 2006 and 2007 and now applaud the 2 percent decrease reported for 2008 (4% for 18- to 19-year-olds). That decrease brought us to 41.5 births per 1,000 teens -- virtually no change since 2003 when the rate was 41.6 births. (The highest rate of any industrialized country, by the way.)

A friend suggests that bringing down the teen birth rate is like dieting. In the early weeks, a new dieter is excited and frequently drops a respectable amount of weight.

Then comes the hard part: not giving in to that one-little-slice-of-cake-won't-hurt-me reasoning, for example. The biggest obstacle is not becoming discouraged by the yo-yo phenomenon of weight loss and gain that often accompanies the lengthy diet -- and closely resembles the teen birth rate pattern of the last few years.

Of course, we should be pleased that the teen birth rate dipped in 2008 and, according to early reports, may fall again slightly in '09. But who's to say it won't bounce up again? Making significant, lasting social change -- particularly in behavior that is deeply personal -- is even more difficult than losing weight and keeping it off.

The more we listen to young people, the more we realize this. Late last year, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy surveyed unmarried 18- to 29-year-olds for a report called The Fog Zone. In an answer to one question, nine out of 10 said they knew all they needed to know to prevent pregnancy.

Yet, in an answer to another question, two out of three said they knew little or nothing about birth control pills. One out of three knew little or nothing about condoms. More than half had not heard of the birth control implant, Implanon.

And more than one out of four of the young women -- and two out of five men -- said it was at least slightly likely they would have unprotected sex in the next three months.

Clearly, sex education must be improved and expanded to new audiences. Reliable contraceptive methods must be easier to obtain, more affordable and marketed in new ways.

But we also need to accept the fact that keeping young people from having babies before they're ready, like keeping weight off, is a forever task.

(The writer is a senior media fellow at The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy)

 

 

 

Comments

[progressiveblkgrl]

06:11 PM on 04/12/2010

Just from the comments alone I can see why there is such a problem in this country. Older people quickly forget what it's like to be teenagers and the pressure young adults feel to do silly and dangerous things all for the appearance of being cool. This is not rocket science, you don't really need to do a study, this really is about trying to impress your friends about how cool you are because you are in a sexually active relationship. That's regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Rich white kids in the suburbs have sex, just like poor Latino and Black kids in the cities, this is about hormones and peer pressure, period. So, as opposed to preaching abstinence we need to find ways to teach better sex education and find ways for young girls to feel confident telling boys no. This should be the job of the parent, first, and then the school system, but that would require both entities to pull their head out of the sand and address the issue promptly and directly.

[Vetinari]

04:40 PM on 04/12/2010

Not so hard to understand the difference in what they think they know and what they actually know.

All teens know that not having sex will prevent you from getting pregnant. Not having sex is how you avoid it for sure.

See? They know how to avoid it in the surest way possible.

Do they avoid it? Not so much, they still have sex.

[direct democracy]

04:03 PM on 04/12/2010

Studies show that teens from Christian fundamentalist families have higher pregnancy rates and that well educated people have lower birth rates. Is there is a connection?

[Vetinari]

04:43 PM on 04/12/2010

abstinence only...

[lauracarroll]

12:59 PM on 04/12/2010

Whoa--the differences between what they say they know and actually do know is disturbing. Comprehensive sex education sure needs to be better for teens. Abstinence, well, research differs on the effectiveness of this education, I think it alone is not the answer. It should be one part of comprehensive programs.

On another distubing channel, teens know the risks of unprotected sex--why would some of them predict they will have it anyway?? What is the motive behind taking such a big risk?
~Laura http://lauracarroll.com

[vim876]

04:32 AM on 04/11/2010

Teen pregnancy, unlike weight, is not 70% genetically determined. And prophylactics are highly effective against pregnancy, whereas we have no idea how to produce sustained weight loss in 95% of the population. Kids may or may not have access to accurate knowledge about contraception, but I've never met a fat person who didn't know they were fat. So no, it's not like dieting, at all.

[NoSillyName]

08:48 PM on 04/10/2010

Children need to be educated with FACTS, not propaganda, religion or politics.

[Willow712]

12:39 PM on 04/10/2010

My daughter, product of a broken divorced home, got pregnant at 16. She is now 35 and doing well, married, etc. but she will freely say that children from broken homes, latch key children, etc. do not have good future goals. The teenage birth rate is high in places where the teens will grow up, work in the mines or the factories, just like their parents and they will not leave the family dynamic. They will have a baby or two marry a guy, hopefully stay together, divorce at 50%, thereby raising more teenagers that have no goals, no hope and no education. Face it, a girl wanting to go to college to be a Doctor facing 8 years of schooling, is not going to get pregnant. A young man, wanting to be a CPA with a goal for the future is not going to have unprotected sex. Its the young kids that know they will always live like their parents did, and their goal as a product of broken homes, alcoholic parents,. lack of education, is to grow up and work at the factory and find someone to love them. Until we change that family dynamic, the teen birth rate is going to go up and down, but never going down to a low number.

[Laura Stepp]

03:21 PM on 04/10/2010

Improving the economic/social conditions of families will help teens envision a future and, we hope, inspire them to be careful with contraception. It is important, however, to add that girls going to college do get pregnant, and boys wanting to be a CPA do have unprotected sex resulting in a partner's pregnancy. But young people college-bound or in college also often have easier access to abortion than the non college-bound and the means to pay for it.

[RobinSeattle]

04:34 PM on 04/09/2010

The birth rate for teens has been declining for the last 20 years at least. Indeed, if it weren't for the rate of young hispanic girls having babies (and even that is in decline), the rate would make teen pregnancy as rare as hen's teeth. http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa270/DJAmarant/BirthRates.jpg