America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2009
Adolescent Births
Bearing a child during adolescence is often associated with long-term difficulties for the mother and her child. These consequences are often attributable to poverty and other adverse socioeconomic circumstances that frequently accompany early childbearing.26 Compared with babies born to older mothers, babies born to adolescent mothers, particularly young adolescent mothers, are at higher risk of low birthweight and infant mortality.6,9,27 They are more likely to grow up in homes that offer lower levels of emotional support and cognitive stimulation and they are less likely to earn high school diplomas. For the mothers, giving birth during adolescence is associated with limited educational attainment, which in turn can reduce employment prospects and earnings potential.28 The birth rate of adolescents under age 18 is a measure of particular interest because the mothers are still of school age.
Indicator FAM6: Birth rates for females ages 15–17 by race and Hispanic origin, 1980–2007
NOTE: Data for 2007 are preliminary. Race refers to mother's race. The 1977 OMB Standards for Data on Race and Ethnicity were used to classify persons into one of the following four racial groups: White, Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, or Asian or Pacific Islander. Although state reporting of birth certificate data is transitioning to comply with the 1997 OMB standard for race and ethnic statistics, data from states reporting multiple races were bridged to the single-race categories of the 1977 OMB standards for comparability with other states and for trend analysis. Rates for 1980–1989 are not shown for Hispanics; White, non-Hispanics; or Black, non-Hispanics because information on Hispanic origin of the mother was not reported on birth certificates of most states and because population estimates by Hispanic ethnicity for the reporting states were not available. Data on race and Hispanic origin are collected and reported separately. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System.
- In 2007, the adolescent birth rate was 22.2 per 1,000 adolescents ages 15–17. There were 140,640 births to these adolescents in 2007 according to preliminary data. The 2007 rate was higher than the 2006 rate of 22.0 per 1,000. This was the second consecutive year of increase in this measure since the long-term decline beginning 1991–1992.6,10,11
- The birth rate among adolescents ages 15–17 declined from 38.6 to 21.4 births per 1,000, between 1991 and 2005. This decline followed an increase between 1986 and 1991.
- There remain substantial racial and ethnic disparities among the birth rates for adolescents ages 15–17. In 2007, the birth rates for this age group were 8.4 for Asians or Pacific Islanders, 11.8 for White, non-Hispanics, 31.7 for American Indians or Alaskan Natives, 35.8 for Black, non-Hispanics, and 47.8 for Hispanics.10
- The birth rate for Black, non-Hispanic and White, non-Hispanic females ages 15–17 dropped more than half between 1991 and 2005, completely reversing the increase between 1986 and 1991. Rates for both groups increased in 2006 and were statistically unchanged in 2007.
- The birth rate for Hispanic adolescents in this age group fell during 1991 to 2007, although at a slower pace than for Black and White non-Hispanic adolescents. Most of the decline for Hispanic adolescents occurred by 2003.10,11
- In 2007, 93 percent of births to females ages 15–17 were to unmarried mothers, compared with 62 percent in 1980 (See FAM2.B).
- The rates of first and second births for females ages 15–17 declined by two-fifths and nearly two-thirds, respectively, between 1991 and 2005; both rates rose slightly in 2006.6
6 Martin, J.A., Hamilton, B.E., Sutton, P.D., Ventura, S.J., Menacker, F.J. Kirmeyer, S., and Mathews, TJ. (2009). Births: Final data for 2006. National Vital Statistics Reports 57(7). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
9 Mathews, T.J., and MacDorman, M.F. (2008). Infant mortality statistics from the 2005 period linked birth/infant death data set. National Vital Statistics Reports, 57(2). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
10 Hamilton, B.E., Martin, J.A., and Ventura, S.J. (2009). Births: Preliminary data for 2007. National Vital Statistics Reports, 57(12). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
11 Hamilton, B.E., Sutton, P.D., and Ventura, S.J. (2003). Revised birth and fertility rates for the 1990s: United States, and new rates for Hispanic populations, 2000 and 2001. National Vital Statistics Reports, 51(12). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
26 Klerman, L.V. (1993). Adolescent pregnancy and parenting: Controversies of the past and lessons for the future. Journal of Adolescent Health, 14, 553–561.
27 Kiely, J.L., Brett, K.M., Yu, S., and Rowley, D.L. (1994). Low birthweight and intrauterine growth retardation. In L.S. Wilcox, and J.S. Marks, (Eds.), From data to action: CDC's public health surveillance for women, infants, and children (pp. 185–202). Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
28 Maynard, R.A. (Ed.). (1997). Kids having kids: Economic costs and social consequences of teen pregnancy. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press.