Why is a teenage girl in Mississippi four times as likely to give birth than a teenage girl in New Hampshire? (And 15 times more likely to give birth than a teen in Switzerland?) Why is the teen birth rate in Massachusetts 19.6 per 1,000, while it’s 47.7 per 1,000 in Washington, D.C.? Why despite a 40 percent drop over two decades are teen moms still far more common in the US than elsewhere across the developed world? It is not that American teens have more sex. Many studies have found that US teenagers have less sex than their counterparts in Europe.
The answer, according to a study published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, may well lie in social inequality. A new study suggests American teens don't have more sex than teens elsewhere, but that they suffer more "despair" due to poverty. It has been known for decades that girls living in lower socio-economic circumstances are more likely than their wealthier peers to become pregnant. Anthropologists and social workers explain that teens who experience “despair” are more likely to turn to motherhood as a way to find meaning in a world where they see few other options. Professors Melissa Kearney of the University of Maryland, College Park and Phillip Levine of Wellesley College adds a new twist to this theory, creating an economic model to show what this “despair” means, in measurable terms. They found that the truly at-risk teens are those who live in areas of great income disparity. Teens in the highest-inequality states are roughly 5 percentage points more likely to give birth as a teen than teens in the lowest-inequality states. They found the opposite pattern on teenage abortions – much less abortions among teens with low socioeconomic status than in high-inequality states.
“No silver bullet such as expanding access to contraception or abstinence education will solve this particular social problem,” they write. “Our view is that teen childbearing is so high in the United States because of underlying social and economic problems.” They say the true way to tackle teen pregnancy is to address the thornier issue of the “lack of economic opportunity among those at the bottom of the economic ladder.”
Policies targeted directly at teen pregnancy prevention – sex education, improved access to contraception, abstinence counseling, and the like – are unlikely to improve outcomes much for disadvantaged young women. Instead, with improved economic opportunities, reduced poverty, and improved prospects for other adult outcomes, teen pregnancy would also decline.
The answer, according to a study published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, may well lie in social inequality. A new study suggests American teens don't have more sex than teens elsewhere, but that they suffer more "despair" due to poverty. It has been known for decades that girls living in lower socio-economic circumstances are more likely than their wealthier peers to become pregnant. Anthropologists and social workers explain that teens who experience “despair” are more likely to turn to motherhood as a way to find meaning in a world where they see few other options. Professors Melissa Kearney of the University of Maryland, College Park and Phillip Levine of Wellesley College adds a new twist to this theory, creating an economic model to show what this “despair” means, in measurable terms. They found that the truly at-risk teens are those who live in areas of great income disparity. Teens in the highest-inequality states are roughly 5 percentage points more likely to give birth as a teen than teens in the lowest-inequality states. They found the opposite pattern on teenage abortions – much less abortions among teens with low socioeconomic status than in high-inequality states.
“No silver bullet such as expanding access to contraception or abstinence education will solve this particular social problem,” they write. “Our view is that teen childbearing is so high in the United States because of underlying social and economic problems.” They say the true way to tackle teen pregnancy is to address the thornier issue of the “lack of economic opportunity among those at the bottom of the economic ladder.”
Policies targeted directly at teen pregnancy prevention – sex education, improved access to contraception, abstinence counseling, and the like – are unlikely to improve outcomes much for disadvantaged young women. Instead, with improved economic opportunities, reduced poverty, and improved prospects for other adult outcomes, teen pregnancy would also decline.
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