Teenage pregnancy in the United States

Teenage pregnancy in the United States refers to females under the age of 20 who become pregnant.

Anti-teenage pregnancy III Source Flickr: Anti-teenage pregnancy III Author Polina Sergeeva

Statistics and trivia

• 89% of these births take place out-of-wedlock.
• Since the 2010s, teen pregnancy rates has declined almost continuously according to the data from the CDC.
• This declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years.
• Despite this, the United States still the United States has one of the highest teenage birth rates among the industrialized nations.
• 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20.
• That is nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.

Prevention of teen pregnancy

• Teen pregnancy and childbearing are associated with increased social and economic costs through immediate and long-term effects on teen parents and their children.

High school dropouts

• Pregnancy and birth are significant contributors to high school dropout rates among girls.
• Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, whereas approximately 90% of women who do not give birth during adolescence graduate from high school.

Poor outcomes for the child

• The children of teenage mothers are more likely to have lower school achievement and to drop out of high school, have more health problems, be incarcerated at some time during adolescence, give birth as a teenager, and face unemployment as a young adult..

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