Risking the Future Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing (1987) / Chapter Skim
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2 Trends in Adolescent Sexuality and Fertility
2 Trends in Adolescent Sexuality and Fertility
Pages 33-74
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From page 33... ...
Census data provide wformanon concerning the size and composition of the teenage population, the characteristics of their families, their living arrangements, their school es~rolIment, their employment status, and their economic well-be~g. Other national survey data provide ~nfo'~ation about sexual activity.
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From page 34... ...
Data descnbing ethnicity, however, began to be available only in the 1970s as some subgroups, especially Hispanics, became more prominent minorities in the United States. The census and other federal data sources based on census samples began to distinguish Hispanic ongiI1 in 1970; in 1978 selected states began to report inflation concerning ethnic~ty through the Vital statistics system.
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From page 35... ...
Among males the increase was from 96 percent in 1960 to 97 percent in 1976 to 98.S percent in 1984. Although there was only a relai~,rely small decline over the decade ~ the percentage of white teenagers who married, there was a much sharper decline among blacks, and it
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From page 36... ...
Apprommately equal proportions of white end black teenagers ages 1015 and 1617 are enrobed in school, while fewer Hispanics ages I~17 are students. Among teenagers I~19 years old, whites are more likely to be enrobed than either blacks or Hispanics.
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From page 37... ...
Precludes boys and girls 14 years of age. SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, "Manral Stands end Living Arrangements," Current Po~uLaizon Reports, Series P-20, 1960, 1970, 1913, 197:, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1985.
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From page 39... ...
Unemployment (seasonally adjusted) was significantly greater among black teenagers than among white teenagers, 41 percent compared with 16 percent, and it was slightly higher for males of both races than for females (Table 2-41.
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From page 40... ...
Ire 1982, nearly 53 percent of black girls ages 15-19 had had intercourse, compared with about 40 percent of whites. However, the proportion of sexually active white teenage gills increased steadily between 1971 and 1979 and then declined very slightly in the early 1980s.
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From page 41... ...
Data concerning trends in sexual activity among unmarried Hispanic adolescent girls are unavailable. Nevertheless, on the basis of estimates fiom the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth, it appears that levels of premantal sexual activity among Hispanic teenagers are closer to the level for whites than for blacks (see Vol.
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From page 42... ...
Il.: appendix tables, section on adolescent sexual activity) indicate that in 1979 nearly a quarter of sexually active gigs ages 15-19 had had intercourse only once or twice during the previous month.
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From page 43... ...
TRENDS IN ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY AND FERTILITY 43 TABLE 2-6 Cumulative Sexual Activity by Age of Initiation and Sex for the National l~ongitud~nal Sunrey of Youth . Cumulative Percentage Sexually Active Age Boys Girls Total Sample (A = 4,637 boys, 4~648 girls)
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From page 44... ...
Il: appendix tables, section on adolescent sexual activity)
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From page 45... ...
TRENDS IN ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY A ED FER TILITY 45 TABLE 2-7 Cumulative Sexual Activity Estimates by Age, Race and Ethniaty, Mother's Educational Level, and High School Dropout Rate, 1982 Percentage Sexually Active by Age 18 Percentage Sexually Active by Age 20 _ .
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From page 46... ...
Contraceptive Use Contraceptive use among unmarried, sexually active, adolescent girls increased steadily dunug the 1970s and then leveled off in the early 1980s. In 1982, approximately 85 percent of sexually active teenagers ages 15-19 reported that they had ever used a contraceptive method, compared with approximately 66 percent in 1976, and nearly 73 percent in 1979.
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From page 47... ...
47 US 11 -Z _ Cat ~1 C)
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From page 48... ...
According to data from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth, teenagers who were older at first intercourse (18-19) were more likely to practice contraception than those under 18, and they were more likely to use a more reliable medical method.
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From page 49... ...
. Available data suggest that while many teenage girls who use contraception rely on mate methods at the in~tiation of sexual intercourse, they later switch tO more effective medical methods.
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From page 50... ...
The result of an increased population of teenagers in the mid-1970s, fewer of whom were mamed and more of whom were sexually active, was a substantial increase in the number of adolescents likely to experience a nonmarital pregnancy Since the late 1970s, the declining teenage population and the leveling off of sexual activity among this age group have produced a slight decrease in the number at risk. However, as shown in the appendix tables, section on adolescent sexual activity (Vol.
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From page 51... ...
estimates that 43 percent of all adolescent girls regardless of marital status will become pregnant at least once before their twentieth birthday, a slight increase in the probability of pregnancy since 1976. This figure includes 40 percept of white teenagers and 63 percent of black teenagers (Table 2-10~.
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From page 52... ...
Adjusting for sexual activity, however, the pregnancy rate has declined. In 1972, the pregnancy rate among sexually active teenagers was 272 per 1,000 women ages 15-19.
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From page 53... ...
In 1984, 13 percent of all births were to women under age 20, the lowest proportion measured in the United States since 1957. Over the past decade, the birth rate for 15- to 19-year-olds dropped 8 percent tO itS lowest level since the 1940s, while the rate for women in their early thirties rose 27 percent and for women age 35-39 increased 17 percent (National Center for Health Statistics, 1986~.
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From page 54... ...
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From page 55... ...
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From page 57... ...
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Viral Statistics of the United States, annual volumes.
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From page 58... ...
Il. the proportion of blacks obta~n~g abortions increased steadily throughout the 1970s, so that by 1978 black adolescent girls were three times as likely to obtain an abortion to resolve a nonmantal pregnancy as in 1971 (Ezzard et al., 1982~.
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From page 59... ...
~9 cO - ~ o o ~ ~ o c~ & ~ ~5 I: et c : At ~ o c)
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From page 60... ...
SOURCES: National Center for Health Statistics, 1983, Advance Report of Final Natality Statistics, 1981, Mond2ly Vim1 Statistics Report 32~9~: Supplement; l.D.
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From page 61... ...
Therefore, precise estimates of the number and proportion of teenagers who choose this means of pregnancy resolution are impossible. Available agency data from selected states support sunrey evidence of a dramatic decline in adoption placements since the late 1960s; however, agency data do not take account of children placed through private adoption arrangements and therefore may underestimate to some extent the number of teens who relinquish their children.
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From page 62... ...
62 ADOLESCENT S=UALITY PREGNA NCY AND CHILLING Gus ConceivedlBorn R;~ outside marriage WHITE WOMEN, AGES 15~19 100 90 80 70 60 C' 50 40 30 20 10 o Conceived outside mamage/ Born inside marriage I ~ Conceivedl I 7 Born in~demarnage _ ~ ~ 1 l ~ . ~ 195 ~195~ 196~ 1~0 197~ 1975- 198 1954 t959 tom 1~9 1974 1979 1981 BIRTH COHORT OF CHILD FIGURE 2 - Firstborn children conceived either mentally or extramaritally so mothers ages 1~-19.
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From page 63... ...
^~ ~ Dot S=~LlTy ~ ~17Y ~ Conce~ed/~m off _ BACK WOMEN AGES 1~19 100 90 80 70 60 50 30 20 10 o ague 2~ Concur.
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From page 65... ...
Appro=mately 45 percent of births to Hispanic women ages I~19 were nonmantal births in 1984, compared with 34 percent of non-Hispan~c white births =d 87 percent of non-Hispanic black births (unpublished tabulations by the Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, 19861. Despite the substantial increase in unmarred parenthood among whites during the 1970s and the early 1980s, the proportion of all nonmarital births to teenage mothers (ages 15-19)
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From page 67... ...
In short, although white teenagers were more likely in 1984 to give birth outside marriage than they were in 1970, black teenagers were still at significantly greater risk than either whites or Hispanics of having a nonmantal birth. Future Projections What do these trends mean for the absolute numbers of children born to teenage mothers since 1970, and what do they suggest for adolescent childbearing into the 1990s?
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From page 68... ...
Of special significance are the problems of explaining race differences in adolescent sexual activity, pregnancy, abortion, and nonmantal childbearing. Although available data contribute to understanding the associations between an indindual's characteristics and behaviors for exarnple, living ~ a single-parent family, early sexual initiation, and early nonmantal childbearing they do not lend themselves tO forming COI1clusions concerning the chain of causality and how this may have changed over time.
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From page 69... ...
Those persons who refuse differ in ways that cannot always be predicted but that may affect the conclusions of the research. If, for example, parents who hold very conservative and stnct views about adolescent sexual activity are more likely to refuse permission for their child to be interviewed, then children reared in conservative homes will be underrepresented in the analyses conducted with the data.
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From page 70... ...
Although there is good reason to have samples large enough so that blacks, whites, and Hispanics can be studied separately, the costs of data collection can be so large that periodic surveys may be infrequent or corners may be cut, and data quality supers. And yet the substantive concerns are valid It is important to have more and better data on young adolescents and on males, and it is very important to be able to study socioeconomic differences within as wed as between racial and ethnic subgroups, as a basis for designing more sensitive policies and more effective interventions.
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From page 71... ...
Currently, the only system that gathers annual information is the Voluntary Cooperative Information System, managed by the Amencan Public Welfare System. This system collects data only on children placed for adoption by public child welfare agencies and therefore does not count private placements.
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From page 72... ...
· The pregnancy rate calculated for all adolescents has increased steadily since 1970. When calculated for those who are sexually active, however, the pregnancy rate has remained stable during the past decade as a result of increased contraceptive use.
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From page 73... ...
TRENDS IN ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY AND FERTILITY 73 No initiation of l intercourse 5,124 Contraceptive use 1.863 PJI adolescent girls ages 15-19 9,772 Initiation of intercourse 3,866 Effective contraception 1,565 | Mscamages |/ / 1 'I ~ / Abortions 34~ Adoption Placements _ 12(~) _ Remain in parental home (I Premarital Marital pregnancies pregnanc es 8S7 180 Prernantal births 261 Unmamed mothers 249(~-)
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From page 74... ...
The next three chapters explore what is known about the changing societal context an] relevant factors affecting adolescent sexual activity, contraception, abortion, and childbearing outside marriage.
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