Family First Aid Online Article: Teen Pregnancy

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Teenagers who have strong emotional attachments to their parents are much less likely to have a teen pregnancy.

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Teens who have been raised by both parents (biological or adoptive) from birth, have lower probabilities of having sex than other youths.

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At age 16, 22 percent of girls from intact families and 44 percent of other girls have had sex at least once.

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Similarly, teens from intact, two-parent families are less likely to give birth in their teens than girls from other family backgrounds.

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Close to four in ten girls who had first intercourse at 13 or 14 report it was either non-voluntary or unwanted.

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Only one-third of teen mothers receive a high school diploma and only 1.5% have a college degree by age 30.

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Teen mothers are more likely to end up on welfare (nearly 80 percent of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare).

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The children of teenage mothers have lower birth weights, are more likely to perform poorly in school, and are at greater risk of abuse and neglect.

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The sons of teen mothers are 13 percent more likely to end up in prison.

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Daughters of teen mothers are 22 percent more likely to become teen mothers themselves.

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The primary reason that teenage girls who haven't had intercourse give for abstaining is that it would contradict their religious or moral values.

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Other reasons cited include desire to avoid pregnancy, fear of contracting an STD, and not having met the appropriate partner.

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Three of four girls and over half of boys report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriends want them to.

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Teenagers who have strong emotional attachments to their parents are much less likely to be sexually active at an early age.

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The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world.

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Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually.

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Thirty-four percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20 (about 820,000 a year).

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Eight in ten of those teen pregnancies are unintended and 79 percent are to unmarried teens.

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The younger a teenaged girl is when she has sex for the first time, the more likely she is to have had unwanted or non-voluntary sex.

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