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Adolescent Reproductive Health
(04/24/2008) by Centers for Disease Control
When teens give birth, their future prospects and those of their children decline. Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school and more likely to live in poverty than other teens. Pregnant teens aged 15–19 years are less likely to receive prenatal care and gain appropriate weight and more likely to smoke than pregnant women aged 20 years or older. These factors are also associated with poor birth outcomes. The United States has set a national goal of decreasing the rate of teenage pregnancies to 43 pregnancies per 1,000 females aged 15–17 years in 2010.
There have been significant declines in pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates for teenagers over the past decade.1 From 1990 to 2002, the pregnancy rate among 15- to 17- year-olds decreased 42%, from 77.1 per 1,000 females to 44.4.2 The birth rate declined 45%, from its peak at 38.6 per 1,000 in 1991 to 21.4 per 1,000 in 2005.3 In 2002, more than 750,000 pregnancies among U.S. teenagers, aged 15–19 years resulted in 425,000 live births, 215,000 abortions, and 117,000 fetal losses.
Though we are close to the overall decreased teen pregnancy goal for 2010 for the nation, major disparities in pregnancy and birth rates and contraceptive use exist when we look at data by race/ethnicity and for individual states. Black and Hispanic youth are disproportionately affected compared to whites. For example, 2002 pregnancy rates for Non-Hispanic black and Hispanic teenagers aged 15–17 were similar (88.4 and 85.1 per 1000, respectively).2 Both were about 3.5 times the rate of non-Hispanic white teens (25.1 per 1,000) and double the Healthy People 2010 goal of 43.0.2 A wide range of teen birth rates are seen among states, ranging from 62.6 (Texas) to 18.2 (New Hampshire) per 1,000 in 2004.4
International comparisons show that the United States could do much better in improving teen pregnancy and birth rates. U.S. teen pregnancy and teen birth rates are the second highest among 46 countries in the developed world.5 These data show that U.S. teens’ sexual behavior is similar to teens of other developed countries in terms of when they start to have sex and how often they are having it. Yet, U.S. teens are less likely to use contraception or to consistently use more effective methods of contraception when compared to the teens of several other developed countries.6 Recent data show that 77% of the decline in teen pregnancy rates among U.S. teens aged 15–17 years is because teens have increased their use of contraception and 23% of the decline is because teens are having less sex.7 Among older U.S. teens, 18–19 years, this data showed that all the reduction in pregnancy risk was related to increased contraceptive use.7 Effective pregnancy prevention programs exist that have been shown to be successful at delaying intercourse initiation and increasing rates of contraceptive use. For example, Advocates for Youth* has published reports which highlight U.S. –based programs, Science and Success: Sex Education and Other Programs That Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infections.* Although this is encouraging, much work remains to identify additional innovative interventions that address the social, cultural, and environmental influences on teen pregnancy. There is also a need to find better ways of disseminating evidence-based approaches to teen pregnancy prevention, so that effective interventions are more widely used.
Source:
1. Trends from 1976-2003 in pregnancy, birth and abortion rates in teens 15–17 years Source: MMWR 2005;54(04):100.
2. Ventura SJ, Abma JC, Mosher WD, Henshaw SK. Recent trends in teenage pregnancy in the United States, 1990–2002 Health E-Stats. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Released December 2006 Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/teenpreg1990-2002/teenpreg1990-2002.htm (Accessed June 6, 2007).
3. Preliminary data from Hamilton BE, Martin JA, Ventura SJ. Births: Preliminary data for 2005. Health E-Stats. Hyattsville, MD, National Center for Health Statistics. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/prelimbirths05/prelimbirths05.htm (Accessed June 6, 2007).
4. Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, et al. Births: Final Data for 2004, National Vital Statistics Reports 2006;55(1):52. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_01.pdf PDF logo (Accessed June 6, 2007).
5. Singh S and Darroch JE. Adolescent Pregnancy and childbearing levels and trends in developed countries. Family Planning Perspectives 2000;32(1):14–23. Available at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3201400.html* (Accessed June 6, 2007).
6. Darroch JE, Singh S, Frost JJ, and the Study Team. Differences in teen pregnancy rates among five developed countries: the roles of sexual activity and contraceptive use. Family Planning Perspectives 2001;33(6):244–250,281.
7. Santelli JS, Lindberg LD, Finer LB, Singh S. Explaining recent declines in adolescent pregnancy in the United States: the contributions of abstinence and improved contraceptive use. American Journal of Public Health 2007;97(1):150–156.
Selected Resources
Division of Reproductive Health's Adolescent Reproductive Health
The Adolescent Reproductive Health program promotes reproductive health among young people, with a primary focus on preventing unintended pregnancy among young women aged 10–24. ...more
Division of Reproductive Health's Unintended Pregnancy, STD, HIV, Intervention Research (USHIR)
Our mission is to conduct integrative research to prevent HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy and promote health among women of reproductive age, their partners, and their children ...more
Critical Health Behaviors for Youth
This information from CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health, addresses six critical types of adolescent health behavior that research shows contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among adults and youth.
HPV Vaccine (Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and the HPV Vaccine)
Related Resources
Teen Delaying Sexual Activity: Using Contraception More Effectively
The report from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics shows that sexual activity declined significantly for younger teenage girls and for teenage boys between 1995 and 2002, and teen contraceptive use improved in significant ways. NCHS release: December 10, 2004.
Effect of Revised Population Counts on County-Level Hispanic
Teen Birthrates—United States, 1999
CDC analyzed county-level estimates of Hispanic teen birthrates for 1999. This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated that Hispanic teen birthrates for 1999, when calculated on the basis of the 2000 census, were lower than birthrates based on the 1990 census for the majority of counties with substantial Hispanic populations. Source: MMWR, 2004;53(40):946–949.
Teen Birth Rate Continues to Decline; African-American Teens Show Sharpest Drop
"Births: Final Data for 2002," from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics shows that the teen birth rate declined by 30 percent over the past decade to a historic low and that the rate for black teens was down by more than 40 percent. NCHS release: December 17, 2003.
U.S. Pregnancy Rate Down from Peak; Births and Abortions on the Decline
This report from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics outlines trends and other findings including revised pregnancy rates from 1990 to 1999, and includes the latest abortion data for 1999. NCHS release: October 31, 2003.
Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing, 2002. Series No. 23, Volume 24 PDF icon PDF 710KB.
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Content: Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Source: www.cdc.gov This article appears in the following topics:
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