Mississippi has highest teen birth rate, CDC says

Wed Jan 7, 2009 8:32 AM EST
advertisement

ATLANTA — Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen birth rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, a new federal report says. Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, according to new state statistics released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The teen birth rate for that year in Texas and New Mexico was more than 50 percent higher.

The three states have large proportions of black and Hispanic teenagers — groups that traditionally have higher birth rates, experts noted.

The lowest teen birth rates continue to be in New England, where three states have rates at roughly half the national average, which is 42 births per 1,000 teen women.

It's not clear why Mississippi, with 68 births per 1,000, surged into first place. The state's one-year increase of nearly 1,000 teen births could be a statistical blip, said Ron Cossman, a Mississippi State University researcher who focuses on children's health statistics.

The New Mexico rate was 64 per 1,000; Texas was 63. New Hampshire, with a rate of 19 per 1,000, was the nation's lowest.

More than a year ago, a preliminary report on the 2006 data revealed that the U.S. teen birth rate had risen for the first time in about 15 years. But the new numbers provide the first state-by-state breakdown.

The new report is based on a review of all the birth certificates in 2006. Significant increases in teen birth rates were noted in 26 states.

"It's pretty much across the board" nationally, said Brady Hamilton, a CDC statistician who worked on the report.

About 435,000 of the nation's 4.3 million births in 2006 were to mothers ages 15 through 19. That was about 21,000 more teen births than in 2005.

Numerically, the largest increases were in the states with the largest populations. California, Texas and Florida together generated almost 30 percent of the nation's extra teen births in 2006.

Some experts have blamed the national increase on increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education that does not teach teens how to use condoms and other contraception. They said that would explain why teen birth rate increases have been detected across much of the country and not just in a few spots.

There is debate about that, however. Some conservative organizations have argued that contraceptive-focused sex education is still common, and that the new teen birth numbers reflect it is failing.

Other factors include the escalating cost of some types of birth control and their unavailability in some communities, said Stephanie Birch, who directs maternal and child health programs for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

Glowing media portrayals of celebrity pregnancies don't help, either, she said. "They make it out to be very glamorous," said Birch, who cited a calculation by Alaska officials that teen births were up 6 percent in that state in 2006.

A variety of factors influence teen birth rates, including culture, poverty and racial demographics. For those and other reasons, kids in mostly white New England likely would delay child birth, said David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based organization which supports abortion rights and gathers research on sexual and reproductive health.

"It's more costly for youth in the Northeast to have a teen birth than for youth in the South, in terms of opportunities they'll miss," he said.

___

On the Net:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_07.pdf

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
  • 3 Votes
  • Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.

Back To Top

Published to:

What's this?
Who's leading the conversation?
This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.
2.5
0.7
{"commentId":4697736,"authorDomain":"DANI2003"}
DANI-429795

Kids are going to be kids and they are going to have sex. The more you tell them, no the more theyre going to want to do it. Give the kids access to condoms.  Babys arent the only draw back, but the rampant spead of s.t.d.'s.  More and more chidlren are catching all sorts of stuff that couldve been stopped by handing them a rubber.

{"commentId":4697736,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"DANI2003"}
  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 8:52 AM EST
{"commentId":4698302,"authorDomain":"perfect3pear"}
Pat-801092

The story's graphic contains errors.   The teen birth rate is not expressed as a percent, but as births per 1,000 females aged 15-19.

{"commentId":4698302,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"perfect3pear"}
    Reply#2 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 9:42 AM EST
    {"commentId":4699164,"authorDomain":"pdetlefs"}
    pdetlefs

    Ditto - what terrible editing.  Most reporters/editors have no understanding of math or statistics.

    {"commentId":4699164,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"pdetlefs"}
      #2.1 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 10:36 AM EST
      Reply
      {"commentId":4698912,"authorDomain":"dolfan19"}
      Scott-801164

      Mmmm. All but two of the states listed (N.M. and Nevada) are traditionally red states. Interesting...

      {"commentId":4698912,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"dolfan19"}
        Reply#3 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 10:23 AM EST
        {"commentId":4699426,"authorDomain":"dc4hilburn"}
        crystal in AL

        Perhaps those in the more well-to-do and "Blue States" are more apt to elect abortion?!? 

        {"commentId":4699426,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"dc4hilburn"}
        • 1 vote
        #3.1 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 10:53 AM EST
        {"commentId":4703090,"authorDomain":"joeesposito"}
        Joe Esposito

        It's not abortion, it's called sex education. You know, not avoiding the subject, but rather being honest and truthful about sex and the consequences. 

        {"commentId":4703090,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"joeesposito"}
        • 1 vote
        #3.2 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 2:15 PM EST
        {"commentId":4706221,"authorDomain":"dc4hilburn"}
        crystal in AL

        I cannot believe so many people are ignorant enough to believe that ALL people who prefer abstinence over sex ed do not teach their children about the birds and the bees.

        {"commentId":4706221,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"dc4hilburn"}
        • 1 vote
        #3.3 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 5:13 PM EST
        Reply
        {"commentId":4702085,"authorDomain":"acidreflux"}
        AdipicAcid

        Sexuality Education

        • Mississippi state law does not require sexuality education. Local school boards decide whether or not to teach sex ed and which subjects this education must cover and the grade level in which topics are introduced.
        • If sexuality education is taught, then abstinence must be covered and stressed as the only completely effective protection against unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS.
        • Teaching about contraceptives, such as condoms, the Pill, or the Patch, is not required.
        • There is a state code that requires that monogamous heterosexual (straight) marriage should be promoted as the only appropriate setting for sexual intercourse. Also, if schools decide to teach about homosexuality, they must teach that it is “unnatural.”
        • Mississippi received $5,971,147 in federal funds for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Fiscal Year 2006. Think that money could go to better use? Want your school to offer comprehensive sexuality education? You can make a difference! Learn more about your state at SIECUS.org, get in touch with a local org like the Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region and be sure to download our RoadMap.

        HIV/AIDS Education

        • Mississippi state law does not require HIV/AIDS education. Local school boards decide whether or not to teach sex ed and which subjects this education must cover and the grade level in which topics are introduced.
        • Abstinence must be covered and stressed as the only completely effective protection against unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS when transmitted sexually.
        • Teaching about contraceptives, such as condoms, the Pill, or the Patch, is not required.
        • You do not need your parents’ permission to participate in sexuality education or HIV/AIDS education classes. But your parents can take you out of the classes if they object to what is being taught.

        Source (possibly NSFW) Emphasis mine.

        {"commentId":4702085,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"acidreflux"}
        • 1 vote
        Reply#4 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 1:19 PM EST
        {"commentId":4703007,"authorDomain":"t1zod"}
        tizod

        Open Letter To Mike

        I have just finished reading your article on Teen Pregnancy Rates in Mississippi on Yahoo.com. I found it to have racism against blacks and hispanics. You introduce the theme of race early on in the article, and although you move rapidly through other reasons, race in the back of the readers minds.  To emphasize the point you conclude with "A variety of factors influence teen pregnancy rates, including culture, poverty and racial demographics." Racial demographics? As if just being Black or Hispanic makes your pregnancy races go up. I do not claim to know your intent in writing this article, but the result is socially harmful, not helpful.

        {"commentId":4703007,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"t1zod"}
          Reply#5 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 2:09 PM EST
          {"commentId":4703695,"authorDomain":"computersplus99"}
          alanwillingham

          About 90% of teens giving birth are unmarried

          Also, more females as a percentage without jobs are giving birth

          Compare the demographics of Mississippi to other states, and consider entitlement programs and a stronger southern family ethic

          {"commentId":4703695,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"computersplus99"}
          • 1 vote
          Reply#6 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 2:48 PM EST
          {"commentId":4703777,"authorDomain":"computersplus99"}
          alanwillingham

                                             From the United States Census Bureau News

          • Thirty-three percent of all births in 2002 were to unmarried women, a proportion that was about the same in 1998. Eight percent (307,000) of all births were to women in cohabiting unions. Black women were more likely than Hispanic or non-Hispanic white women to have births out of wedlock.

                http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/fertility/001491.html

          {"commentId":4703777,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"computersplus99"}
          • 1 vote
          Reply#7 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 2:52 PM EST
          {"commentId":4705117,"authorDomain":"raleighnc1"}
          RaleighNC1

          I originally read this article on msnbc.com.  No where is general high school education mentioned.  I found the black and hispanic argument to be odd because when I think of states with large Hispanic populations, MS is the one of the last states to come to mind.  TX, AZ, NM have teen pregnancies of 63.1, 62.1, and 64.0 per 1,000, respectively.  But CA, FL, and NY have teen pregnancies of 39.9, 45.2, and 25.7 per 1,000, respectively.  The states with high teen pregnancies have lower general education standings nationwide.  People who are educated not just on abstinence or contraceptives will lower the rate of teen pregnancy.

          {"commentId":4705117,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"raleighnc1"}
            Reply#8 - Wed Jan 7, 2009 4:06 PM EST
            {"commentId":4711017,"authorDomain":"Thomas-Jefferson"}
            Thomas-Jefferson

            Wow, so now when a teenage girl gets pregnant its considered a disease? It's not a disease its called human reproduction. Doesn't the CDC have real diseases to fight? Or they just took so much of my tax dollars they need a way to waste it on something unrelated to their purpose.

            {"commentId":4711017,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"Thomas-Jefferson"}
            • 1 vote
            Reply#9 - Thu Jan 8, 2009 12:29 AM EST
            {"commentId":4715082,"authorDomain":"miknik"}
            Mike Nicholes

            teenage births are a national tragedy. I'd like to see the figures, if anyone has the courage to do so, broken out by educational level and race. I believe there is a relationship between a number of factors, not the least of which is the male indifference to female respect.

            {"commentId":4715082,"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422","authorDomain":"miknik"}
              Reply#10 - Thu Jan 8, 2009 11:33 AM EST
              {"commentId":10408008,"authorDomain":"breelaboy"}
              breelaboyDeleted
              {"commentId":10439525,"authorDomain":"brianalampton"}
              brianalamptonDeleted
              {"canLink":false,"threadId":"463130","isPrivate":false}
              Leave a Comment:
              You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
              Newsvine Privacy Statement
              As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.
              {"threadId":"463130","contentId":"2283422"}
              Start TrackingStart Tracking
              Stop TrackingStop Tracking
              Back To Top | Front Page