Health and Family

Teen Pregnancy

Teen Pregnancy

Teen pregnancy is closely linked to a host of problems for both the parents and the child. Virginia is addressing the full spectrum of social issues that contribute to teen pregnancy.

Why is This Important?

Teen pregnancy is a critical public health issue that affects the health and educational, social, and economic future of the mother and child. Teen pregnancy is also a significant factor in numerous other important social issues: welfare dependency, out-of-wedlock births, responsible fatherhood, and workforce development are all of particular concern.

Adolescents are less likely to seek out prenatal care because they are afraid, embarrassed, or unaware of the resources available to them. This lack of prenatal care, coupled with the mother's usually immature physical development, result in higher rates of low-birth weight babies than in other age groups. As the offspring of adolescent mothers grow, they are more apt than other children to have health and cognitive problems and to be the victims of neglect or abuse.

How is Virginia Doing?

Over the past decade, the rate for teen births has generally declined in Virginia and across the nation. The birth rate for Virginia teens was 40.9 per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 years old in 2000, but by 2009 this rate had dropped to 31.0 births, giving Virginia the 14th lowest incidence of teen births among the 50 states. Relative to its peers, Virginia had a lower rate than North Carolina (44.9), Tennessee (50.6), and Maryland (31.3). New Hampshire led the nation with only 16.4 teen births per 1,000 females.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, Virginia's teen pregnancy rate was among the mid-range of states in 2005: the 20th lowest rate in the nation at 61 pregnancies per 1,000 females aged 15-19. The national average in 2005 was 70 pregnancies per 1,000 female teens. North Carolina's rate was 76, Tennessee's rate was 79, and Maryland's rate was 65. The leading state was New Hampshire, with a teen pregnancy rate of just 33.

Within Virginia, teen pregnancy has generally been decreasing, with every region except the Southwest having a lower rate in 2010 than it did in 2000.

Regional data for 2010 from the Virginia Department of Health shows that the Eastern (59.2) and Southwest (56.9) regions had the highest teen pregnancy rates per 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 19, while the Northern (28.5) and Valley (32.8) regions had the lowest rates. In 2010 there were 10,970 pregnancies reported among teenagers in Virginia overall, or 40.2 per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19.

What Influences Teen Pregnancy?

Several factors influence teen pregnancy rates. Young women may be at higher risk for teen pregnancy if they:

• Use alcohol and/or other drugs, including tobacco products
• Drop out of school
• Lack a support group or have few friends
• Lack involvement in school, family, or community activities
• Perceive little or no opportunity for success
• Live in a community or attend a school where early childbearing is common and viewed as the norm rather than as a cause for concern
• Grow up under impoverished conditions
• Have been victims of sexual abuse or assault
• Have a mother who was aged 19 or younger when she first gave birth
• Begin dating early. Dating at age 12 is associated with a 91 percent chance of being sexually involved before age 19, and dating at age 13 is associated with a 56 percent probability of sexual involvement during adolescence

Adolescents become sexually mature (and fertile) approximately four to five years before they reach emotional maturity. Adolescents today are growing up in a culture in which peers, TV and motion pictures, music, and magazines often transmit either covert or overt messages indicating that unmarried sexual relationships (specifically those involving teenagers) are common, accepted, and at times expected behaviors.

What is the State's Role?

Virginia works to deliver access to and availability of:

• Family-planning services
• Children's access to primary care providers
• Mental health/chemical dependency providers
• Adolescent well-care visits
• Pediatric mental health services
• Chemical dependency services
• Check-ups after delivery
  

Virginia's efforts are based on the core idea that preventing teen pregnancy should be approached not only as a reproductive health issue, but one that incorporates all of the social ramifications involved. If more children in Virginia were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect.