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mahatmakanejeeves

(57,446 posts)
Thu Apr 28, 2016, 04:01 PM Apr 2016

Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50 percent decline among Hispanics and blacks

Source: Washington Post

Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50 percent decline among Hispanics and blacks

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

April 28 at 3:18 PM

The birth rate among American teenagers, at crisis levels in the 1990s, has fallen to an all-time low, according to an analysis released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The decline of the past decade has occurred in all regions in the country and among all races. But the most radical changes have been among Hispanic and black teens, whose birth rates have dropped nearly 50 percent since 2006.

Theories on the reasons for the dramatic shift include everything from new approaches to sex education to the widespread availability of broadband Internet. But most experts agree on the two major causes.

The first is the most important and may be obvious: Today's teens enjoy better access to contraception and more convenient contraception than their predecessors, and more of them are taking advantage of innovations like long-acting injectable and implantable methods that can last years over a daily birth control pill. But the second cause is something that goes against the conventional wisdom. It's that teens -- despite their portrayal in popular TV and movies as uninhibited and acting only on hormones -- are having less sex.
....



(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/04/28/teen-birth-rate-hits-all-time-low-led-by-50-percent-decline-among-hispanics-and-blacks/

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Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50 percent decline among Hispanics and blacks (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Apr 2016 OP
Obviously Bristol Palin is doing her part to keep the numbers high LynneSin Apr 2016 #1
teens are far more aware these days....there are other sexual options without standard intercourse. virtualobserver Apr 2016 #2
This analysis piece doesn't belong in LBN. PSPS Apr 2016 #3
You know, you might have a point. mahatmakanejeeves Apr 2016 #10
I have no problem with teaching abstinence.... Wounded Bear Apr 2016 #4
I agree TexasBushwhacker Apr 2016 #14
i wonder if social media and things like selfies are one reason JI7 Apr 2016 #5
A lot of them aren't actually showing off Blue_Adept Apr 2016 #6
Nope. If anything, social media has made them more connected. Brickbat Apr 2016 #9
connected without having to be together JI7 Apr 2016 #11
I think it works in a more general way. sofa king Apr 2016 #15
BREAKING: America's Teens Less Randy LS_Editor Apr 2016 #7
Let us take a moment... fred v Apr 2016 #8
Pleased to hear of this "dramatic shift" democrank Apr 2016 #12
There is a more bland and obvious answer fasttense Apr 2016 #13
So much for racists' fears about white people being "outbred", LOL. Odin2005 Apr 2016 #16

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,446 posts)
10. You know, you might have a point.
Thu Apr 28, 2016, 04:53 PM
Apr 2016

I thought the release of the information was newsworthy. If the mods deem it more analytic than newsy, I've already started an identical thread at GD. I'll ask them now.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Wounded Bear

(58,656 posts)
4. I have no problem with teaching abstinence....
Thu Apr 28, 2016, 04:17 PM
Apr 2016

as a part of a robust program of sexual education with teaching of scientific information on the subject of procreation and the various means available to make impregnation less probable, including any and all means to terminate any pregnancy as safely as modern medicine will allow, if that is the mother's desire.

TexasBushwhacker

(20,190 posts)
14. I agree
Thu Apr 28, 2016, 07:46 PM
Apr 2016

I look at it as good, better, best education. We tell our kids they shouldn't drink, but we also tell them if they do drink, do not drive or get in a car where the driver has been drinking. Abstinence is the only 100% way to not get pregnant or an STD, but if they're going to have sex, they need fact based education on preventing them.

JI7

(89,249 posts)
5. i wonder if social media and things like selfies are one reason
Thu Apr 28, 2016, 04:18 PM
Apr 2016

The way people are stuck to their phones. Taking and showing pics and getting likes, compliments etc fulfills something for many.

To busy showing off to others including most who they don't even personally know to actually spend time with others and get to know them

Blue_Adept

(6,399 posts)
6. A lot of them aren't actually showing off
Thu Apr 28, 2016, 04:20 PM
Apr 2016

That's the media narrative about it. Try thinking about it in this direction:

They're controlling how THEY want to be viewed by the world, the image they want to present.

A lot of them are just doing it for very narcissistic reasons to be sure, just like any large group. But also realize that for a lot of kids this is a very empowering tool.

 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
13. There is a more bland and obvious answer
Thu Apr 28, 2016, 06:48 PM
Apr 2016

It has slowed down the formation of families ever since man started living in communities bigger that 50.

"Albert and other experts think the economic downturn that started around 2006-2007 may have played a role, too. “They are not checking their stock portfolio before they hop in the sack, but teens are keen observers of the world around them, and if their own family had to do more with less it may have fostered less risk-taking and a more cautious attitude about sex,”."

If you look back through the years, when the economy goes south so do marriages, new families and pregnancies.

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