PURITAN NATION:

More Teenagers Say No to Sex, but Experts Aren't Sure Why (LINDA VILLAROSA, December 23, 2003, NY Times)

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in its annual tally of birth statistics, announced that the teenage birthrate had declined 30 percent over 10 years to a historic low of 43 births per 1,000. African-American teenagers showed the sharpest declines, down more than 40 percent since 1991. For young black teenagers, from 15 to 17, the rate was half, to 40 births per 1,000 in 2002 from 83.6 per 1,000 in 1991 .

These declines, combined with a decrease in abortions among teenagers, points to a promising trend: fewer teenagers are becoming pregnant. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, in women 15 to 19, the pregnancy rate dropped from 11.5 per 1,000 in 1991 to 8.5 in 1999, the latest year with available statistics.

"When you see the abortion rate decline in tandem with birthrate, this essentially means that teenagers are being more successful in avoiding pregnancy, both that end in abortion and end in birth," said David Landry, senior research associate at the institute. It estimates that in women 15 to 19, the abortion rate declined, from 40 per 1,000 in 1990 to 24 in 1999.

Experts in the field agree that educational efforts have been crucial to reducing the numbers.

"Since 1991, when teen birthrates peaked, there's been a tremendous amount of attention focused on preventing teen pregnancy, and it has paid off," said Stephanie Ventura, the chief of the reproductive statistics branch of the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Md., who is a co-author of the new report. "Initiatives at the state and local levels, including school-based programs, church-run, private and community have been ongoing and have really caught teenagers' attention."

It's staggering sometimes just how much different we are than our fellow Western nations.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 23, 2003 07:39 AM