link Texas ranked No. 1 in teen birth rate Experts say sex education, culture play a role in the state's statistics By MELANIE MARKLEY Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle • The state's rate of 63 births per 1,000 Texas teens was the same in 2004 as in 2003, when it was tied for the No. 1 spot with New Mexico and Mississippi. • In 2004, however, the rates in those states declined; the average rate nationally was 41 teen births per 1,000. A newly released study on the well-being of children says Texas had the highest teen birth rate in the nation in 2004, a ranking that the Lone Star State may not want to brag about. Texas, like the rest of the nation, had been reporting a dramatic decline in teen births since at least 1990. But, according to the Kids Count study, which is updated and published annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, Texas now ranks above other states in the rate of babies born to teens 15 to 19, the widest range of ages studied. "Texas has been showing improvement, but other states are showing more improvement," said Frances Deviney,director of Texas Kids Count and a senior research associate for the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. Culture plays a role, statistics show, because black teens in Texas are more than twice as likely as their white peers to have a baby. And Hispanics are more than 3½ times as likely as Anglos to give birth in their teen years. However, Robert Sanborn, president of Children at Risk, said that doesn't explain everything, because other states with high minority populations have lower teen pregnancy rates. He said he's concerned that Texas' sex education curriculum focuses too much on abstinence and provides too little information on other ways to prevent pregnancies. A 1995 law requires school districts to emphasize abstinence in sex education classes. "It's a touchy subject," Sanborn said. "We can preach abstinence quite a bit, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't affect some kids, and apparently it's really not working in Texas." State Board of Education President Don McLeroy, of Bryan, said sex education is primarily a local issue. Although the state emphasizes the teaching of abstinence, the law requires each district to have a local committee that decides what will be taught. "The idea that just giving them a lot of information is going to solve it, I think, is kind of naive," he said. "Certainly, it's more of a societal problem than it is a school problem." But Christine Markham, an assistant professor for health promotion and behavioral science at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, said a national study released this year found that the decline in teen pregnancies has been driven more by the use of effective contraception than by abstinence. Based on her own studies of sexually active middle schoolers, Markham said it's important for educators to start providing students with solid information about their sexual health and development well before high school. Oftentimes, she said, Parents are often looking for guidance themselves, she said "A lot of parents want to talk to their child about sex and dating, but they don't know how to start the conversation," she said.
Kind of funny that some people think the teaching of abstinence is the problem instead of, oh...I don't know.....parental upbringing?? I wonder what the teen birth rate is in Asian countries compared to the US. If it's lower (as I suspect it is), I'm sure it's because they hand out more condoms than we do...
its not a zero sum game. edit: and they did acknowledge in the article its not just the school's responsibility.
In many urban settings having babies young and being unmarried is not really looked down on. I can't tell you how many "Grandma's" in their 30's I've met. It's a whole cycle thing where there is no expectation of you doing any better then the situation you are in.
US. I have no idea about Mexico. In many schools having baby for teens is the norm rather than the exception.
When the "society" you live in "accepts" the behaviour it becomes easier for you to live out the low expectations. I grew up in the 70's in a small working class town. There was an expectation that you would not get pregnant and a stigma if you did. Sure, it happen, but it was rare. In many neighborhoods now, it may not be encourated but its accepted. We lower are standard of expectation.
you guys act like more than half the girls at these schools get pregnant. its a ridiculous statement to say a 15 year old girl is looking forward to life after pregnancy, that her mom and family thought it was okay. that's beyond stupid.
I know these families, I've talked to these girls. It's not so much as it being "o.k." but it's almost accepted as inevitable. The Mom's were teen-aged mothers on welfare --- there daughters are teen-aged mother's on welfare. It is accepted in their environment and there is often no real expectation of them doing any better. Not 50% but close --Thirty-one percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 202 -- about 750,000 a year.3 Eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended4 and 81 percent are to unmarried teens. If the overall is 31% the rate among teens in poverty must be much higher (I'm trying to find some stats to back that up). http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/data/genlfact.asp#problem
maybe not half, but it a solid % and growing. and you would be surprised how stupid girls can be at that age, especially now in days. I was talking to a teacher and she overheard a 14 year old girl saying she cant wait to be a mom and how good she would be at it. Its a serious problem and i dont know if simply 'sex ed' is really going to help, but it might since so many seem to be sexually r****ded to begin with. Although, you are also assuming that these same students having babies so young will also be responsible enough to actually go to class. But at least they get govt money for being stupid
I think your numbers are totally off, the article I post says 63/1000, that's only 6.3%. edit: if you assumed all those girls were poor and minority and that 500 in 1000 represented all poor and minorities, that would only be 12% of poor and minorities.
It is not anywhere close to 50% if that's what you mean. In my area, we have schools that have less than 1% and other schools with close to 15-20% depending on the year. If you have more than 10% of the girls in a school having babies it means there are several in every class. The other students start to think this is not so bad since it is so common. In China, I think you would be hard pressed to find more than a couple girls who have had kids in any school (we are talking about schools with several thousand students).
This is a multilayered problem that requires multilayeresd solutions 1. Sex ed .. . AND YES THAT MEANS ABSTINANCE I for one detested the . .They gonna do it so no need to mention Abstinence crowd 2. Raising Expectations - This happens in the home and in the school 3. Raising economics of the situation - helping the family rise Rocket River
