Teen Births Decline

From the Marshall Memo #434

In this New York Times article, Nicholas Bakalar reports that the National Center for Health Statistics found that fewer teenagers gave birth in 2010 than in any year since 1946. Birth rates among young women 15-19 fell in all but three states and in all racial, ethnic, and age groups. “I think the current generation of youth are perhaps more conscientious and cautious,” says Dr. John Santelli of Columbia University. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has corroborating statistics: Since 1991, the percentage of teenagers who have ever had sex has decreased by 15 percent, the number who have had sex with four or more partners has decreased by 26 percent, and the percentage using condoms has increased by 32 percent. 

These findings “may run counter to depictions of licentious teenagers on reality television,” says Bakalar, “but scientists say there can be little doubt about the data.” What accounts for these trends? Sex education, concern about sexually transmitted diseases, and perhaps the abstinence movement. 

“Teenage Birth Rate Is Lowest Since 1946” by Nicholas Bakalar in The New York Times, Apr. 17, 2012, http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/teenage-birth-rates-at-a-low/