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Running head: ETHNIC TEEN BIRTHRATES

Factors Involve Ethnic Differences in Teen Birthrates: High School Dropout, Minority, and
Poverty

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ETHNIC TEEN BIRTHRATES

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Abstract

This literature review focuses on how minority status, poverty status, and dropping out of high
school can lead to teen pregnancy
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This paper will include data that has been collected
from the past, comparison between each ethnic group, and theories to explain the correlation
between poverty and teen pregnancy, as well as, relationship between high school dropout and
teen pregnancy
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Overall,
most findings are consistent
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ETHNIC TEEN BIRTHRATES

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Factors Involve Ethnic Differences in Teen Birthrates: High School Dropout, Minority, and
Poverty
Teen pregnancy has been an ongoing issue over past few decades
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S
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The age for adolescents to have
sex has also been decreasing
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14), the United States has the highest teenage birthrates among all the
industrialized countries
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With that being said, their long-term careers are hindered
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It is a widespread problem that can only get worse
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Teenagers grew up in poor families are more
likely to experience teen pregnancy, and early teen pregnancy can bounce them into deeper
poverty
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Research has been done with regard to what may be the cause of teen pregnancy
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It could be small sample size and/or
neglected lurking variables that may be dominant factors in the studies
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The factors stand out from the
rest which are minority status, poverty status (internal/external poverty), and high school dropout
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To get a general idea on racial disparities in teenage sexual behavior, the first section is
minority status
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The second section addresses how
poverty leads to teen pregnancy, and presents the theories that explain why poor teens would
more likely to make the decision to get pregnant
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The third section is high school dropout leads to teen pregnancy
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Minority Status
We can first examine the following ethnic groups White Americans, Asian Americans,
Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans
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(2000, p
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During the same
time period, the proportion of Hispanic American teens which are under 17 got pregnant was
7
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The proportions of teen mothers of White American and Asian American are 3
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Another phenomenon that is found in recent data shows that teen birthrates of
White Americans had reached all-time high and began to decline after 1980s
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Eschbach, Supple, and Snipp (1988) analyzed data from the National Longitudinal
Survey of Youth between 1980 and 1990, there was an excessive growth in Native American
population attributed to natural increase, and 62% of the Native American population was
increased during that time
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It is an ongoing trend for the past few
decades that minority teens have generally higher chance of getting pregnant during adolescent
years than White American teens (Basch, 2011, p
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According to the National Longitudinal
Survey of Youth (2006), between the age 15 and 17, African American’s teen birth rate was
more than three times as high as White American’s teen birth rate
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The reasons that attribute to the high teen birth rate among African Americans and
Hispanic Americans might have been these two ethnic groups had limited access to social
support, employment, and health care
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According to Carlson et al
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The percentage of White
teenagers who have had sexual intercourse was 43
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As for Hispanic teens, 45
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The percentage of African American teens
experienced sex was 60
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615)
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Many teenagers who had sexual intercourse were most likely continuing to
engage in sexual activities
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615) the percentage for African
American teens remained sexually active after first sexual intercourse was 48
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9%
of White teens continued to engage in sexual activities after losing virginity, and 37
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African Americans were also more likely to have four or more sexual partners; the
percentage was 27
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3% for Hispanics, and 11
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The condom use among the
sexually active did not differ much among races; the percentage of African American used

ETHNIC TEEN BIRTHRATES

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condom was 67
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7% for Whites, and 61
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Condom use continued to
decline among all racesfrom grade 9 to grade 12
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Using birth control pills
also increased from grade 9 to grade 12, but the increase was rather rapid
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We can conclude that African American teens used
condoms more than White teens
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Poverty leads to teen pregnancy
It is intuitive to assume adolescents living in poverty are more likely to become teenage
mothers
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(2000, p
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The chance of getting pregnant increased by half if an
individual was poor at the age of 14
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295), “childbearing during
late adolescence is associated with poverty both before and after becoming a parent
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There are two theories on why poor people often have a teen pregnancy
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296), first theory is from a psychological point of view,
assuming that poverty causes of a state of “ learned helplessness” or a lack of “personal efficacy”
that prevent poor people from planning for their future
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Another theory is derived from a cultural analysis
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296),
poor people outweigh the importance of current gratification over planning for the more distant
future
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ETHNIC TEEN BIRTHRATES

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Culturally, poor people tend to not behave in an accepted standard ways of social behavior and
do not think like normal people do
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Poor people are constantly living in a limited life options situation
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It can also push
them into deeper poverty
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However, due to poverty and discrimination, the lack of social support stifles the possibility to
put them through college (Sullivan, 1993, p
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Poor people have less incentive to go to
college, therefore, delaying childbearing would not offer rewards to them, since going to college
is no longer an option
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It appears to
be that poorer teenagers are less likely to choose abortion for their pregnancy
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301), it is less costly to have an abortion than bearing
and supporting a child, even though it seems intuitive that people with higher income are more
likely to carry a baby to its birth
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These findings support the theory of
“life-options” prediction model that poor people are more likely to give birth to a child due to the
fact that they are less inclined to choose abortion
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Sullivan (1993, p
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S
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Among White teenagers, 27
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9% of people who are not eligible for
Medicaid choose to have an abortion
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3% of people who
are eligible for Medicaid choose to have an abortion while 83
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Among Latino teenagers, only 17
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8% of people who are not eligible
for Medicaid choose to have an abortion
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On the
other hand, Latinos have the lowest abortion rates and almost half of the abortion rates of Whites
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Internal poverty
To further examine how poverty could lead to early teen pregnancies, we can break it into
two categories: internal poverty and external poverty
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(2004, p
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The term internal locus-of-control
refers to which how much individuals believe they have control over events in their lives
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Internal poverty/future expectations consistof whether the subject thought she would graduate
from high school, how far she would get in school, and what line of work she would get at the
age of 30
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(1993), as cited in Young et al
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364), there is no
strong correlation between locus-of-control and teen pregnancy
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(1995), as cited in young et al
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363), there is no significant correlation between
educational aspirations and teen pregnancy
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(2004, p
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It comprised of parents’ education, educational expectations from parents,
parents’ occupational level, parenting style, and socioeconomic status
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Higher educational expectations from her parents would also decrease the likelihood of
her giving birth to a child
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Higher family income would lead to lower likelihood of their daughter becoming
a teenage mother
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(2004, p
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”
As for parenting style, authoritative parenting has been proven to raise children with better
grades, better social development, and fewer behavioral problems than authoritarian parenting
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Methods
External poverty/Family Background
For the purpose of study, students’ educational expectations from parents, and Parents’
occupations were both categorized as low, middle, or high status
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” These two questions were used to depict parent-child interaction
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Internal poverty/Future Expectations
Young et al
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365) analyzed data from the National Education Longitudinal Study
(1988), conducted on a sample of 25,000 eighth grade students from across the country
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In 1990,
data were collected from those eighth graders two years ago, now tenth graders, as well as, those
who had dropped out before tenth grade
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The data set provided comparisons between those individuals who became teenage mothers and
those who did not over a longitudinal examination
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According to
Young et al
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As for educational expectations, those eighth graders who
did not get pregnant during adolescent years, had higher educational expectations, and were
more likely to believe that they would graduate from high school
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As for external poverty/family background, including the variables: “mother’s
occupation,” “father’s occupation”, “parenting style,” “mother’s education,” “father’s
education,” “perceptions of father’s educational expectation,” “perceptions of mother’s
educational expectations,” and “socioeconomic status
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These results indicated that the teenage girls who came from poor families
were more likely to become pregnant during adolescent years
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According to Mahler (1999, p
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To examine correlation between high school dropout and teen
pregnancy, there are several factors related to high school dropout
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188), reasons behind risk of dropping out include “characteristics of their school and
classroom,” “their family background,” and “individual engagement
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To understand teen pregnancy and motherhood, there are two factors that needed to be
brought into the discussion: life-course and opportunity cost perspectives
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190), a life-course perspective states that a
teenage girl becomes a parent would interfere with the normal transition to adulthood which
involves “completing school,” entering the labor force,“ “relationship formation,” and
“parenthood
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According to Moore, Simms, and Betsy (1986), as cited in Manlove (2010, p
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On the
contrary, teenage girls who do not do well in school, usually with low aspirations, are to have
low opportunity costs
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According to Brewster (1994), as cited in Manlove (2010, p
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Individual engagement, performance and, aspirations
Research has indicated teenage girls with higher school performance are more likely to
pursue higher levels education
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191)
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191), school disengagement would usually lead
teenage girls to drop out, consequently, getting pregnant
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School and Classroom Characteristics
Schools with better resources can equip their students with the skills and knowledge
needed to further their education
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According to Brooks-Gunn, Guang, and
Furstenberg (1993), as cited in Manlove (2010, p
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A more positive
learning environment with engaged teachers would benefit students and encourage them to stay
in school
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(1994), as cited in Manlove (2010, p
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Family characteristics and family links with schools
Teens from higher socioeconomic status are less likely to engage in early sexual activities,
more likely to use contraception, and more likely to get an abortion when pregnant
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246) teenage girls would not have the incentive to
delay childbearing when they are from lower socioeconomic status family
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193), daughters of teen mothers have a
higher probability of becoming a teen mother
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Teens grew up in a more religious family tend to not engage in early
sexual behavior (Mollborn, 2014, p
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Methods
A study was conducted in 1988 to draw a simple random sample of 8,223 eighth-grade
females to find the relationship between high school dropout status and the likelihood of a teen
pregnancy
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Bivariate and multivariate
proportional hazards analyses to examine the relationship between the risk of a teen pregnancy
and high school dropout status based on the sample of 8,223 eight-grade females (Mahler, 1999,
p
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Results
Manlove (2010, p
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Between eight grade and
twelfth grade, a total of 58
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The percentage of teens
dropped out before pregnancy was 28
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3% more of teens dropped out after pregnancy
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Hispanic teens had the highest dropout rate due to pregnancy at 68
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White teens had the

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second highest dropout rate due to pregnancy at 50
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Black teens had the lowest dropout rate
due to pregnancy at 50
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Black teens were least likely to drop
out prior to pregnancy (10
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Hispanic teens were most likely to drop out prior to pregnancy
(40
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The percentage of White teens dropped out prior to pregnancy was 31
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About
41
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The percentage of White teenswhohad
a pregnancy and did not drop out was 40
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The percentage of Black teenswho had a pregnancy
and did not leave school was 49
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The percentage of Hispanic teenswho had a pregnancy and
stayed in school was 31
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White and Hispanic teens who dropped out were 50% more likely than those who did not
drop out to have a live birth
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The
correlation between the likelihood of teen birth and high school dropout status was not
significant due to small sample size (Mahler, 1999, p
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Conclusion
Ethnic disparities in risky sexual behavior might have existed for the past few decades,
but the prominent and fundamental factors are poverty and dropping out of school
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(2004, p
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Even though dropping out of high school is also associated with teen pregnancy, the
causality between these two might be hard to determine
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(2011)
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Journal of School Health,81(10), 614-618
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, Shillington, A
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, &Hohman, M
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Multi-ethnic comparison of risk
and protective factors for adolescent pregnancy
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Carlson, D
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, Bellair, P
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(2014)
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Journal Of Youth & Adolescence, 43(9),
1536-1549
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(2010)
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Futurist, 44(2), 14
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K
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Dropping out of school increases chance of birth for whites and
Hispanics
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Manlove, J
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The influence of high school dropout and school disengagement on the
risk of school-age pregnancy
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Mollborn, S
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W
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D
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Norms as group-level constructs:
investigating school-level teen pregnancy norms and behaviors
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Sullivan, M
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(1993)
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Journal Of Research On Adolescence, 3(3), 295-316
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, Agurcia, C
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, Berenson, A
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(2006)
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Child &
Adolescent Social Work Journal, 23(5/6), 617-634
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, Turner, J
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,& Young, M
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Examining external and internal poverty
as antecedents of teen pregnancy
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