Join the forum discussion on this postThe Atlantic Cities blog has a fascinating piece on the geography of teen motherhood. Here’s a U.S. map showing the rate of mothers ages 15-19 per thousan
The Sun Belt from New Mexico over to Mississippi stands out with the highest numbers for teens as a whole, and also when broken down further by age, including ages 10-14. In contrast, New England teen motherhood rates are only a third of that.
So what are the economic, demographic, and cultural factors that are associated with state-by-state variation in teen birth rates? To get at this, Charlotta Mellander of MPI ran a correlation analysis between the teen birth rate and a range of key state demographic and economic variables.
Keeping in mind that correlation is not causation, Mellander found the following correlations to teen births:
Percentage of state residents who say they are “very religious”: +.65
Romney voters: +.42
Obama voters: -.42
State poverty rate: +.72
Higher percentage of college grads: -.54
Income: -.53
Binge drinking: -.36
Marijuana use: -.40
Access to abortion providers: -.52
My guess is that the binge drinking and marijuana numbers are strongly correlated to the percentage of college grads. Clearly, abstinence education does not work, and teen births have little to do with hookup culture. Instead, another cultural effect seems to be at work:
One needs to look no further than the enormous geographic disparities in teen birth rates to suspect that something other than the adolescent brain is at fault. Why would teens in Mississippi or New Mexico have so much more trouble controlling their impulses than their peers in New York or New Hampshire? … An alternative view — the one we favor — is that teen childbearing is a symptom of living a life full of obstacles. Facing limited education and job prospects, as well as a slim chance of finding a suitable man to marry, some low-income girls simply ask, “Why not have a baby now?”
At the same time, there is also some good news. From Pew Research, Record Share of New Mothers are College Educated.
(H/T: Megaman)
These benchmarks reflect a decades-long rise in the educational levels of all women, as well as a decline in births that has been particularly steep among less educated women, and that has intensified since the onset of the Great Recession in late 2007.
There are significant differences in the marital status of new mothers depending upon their educational attainment. While about six-in-ten (61% in 2011) women with less than a high school diploma are unmarried when they give birth, this share declines to only 9% among women with at least a bachelor’s degree.
The age profile of new mothers varies by their educational attainment as well. While almost half (48%) of new mothers without a high school diploma are younger than 25, only 3% of new mothers with a bachelor’s degree are younger than 25.
Experts have identified a strong linkage between child well-being and maternal education levels…what is irrefutable is that on average the more education a woman has, the better off her children will be.
Education remains the best way to prevent a single woman’s musing, “Why not have a baby now?”
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