Why are teen birth rates lower in the US than in the UK?

[Hulababy]

Article here

The birth rate among US teens aged 10-14 has fallen to the lowest level since 1946, government figures show.

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Given that the number of under-18s who became pregnant in England and Wales rose from 40,966 in 2001 to 41,868 in 2002, what can the UK learn from the US?

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Most young people having sex

1. Greenland
2. England
3. Ukraine
4. Wales
5. Scotland Rankings based on WHO survey of 162,000 15-year-olds from 35 countries in Europe and North America

Any thoughts?

It's so funny, isn't the polarised positions on both sides of the debate. "It must be down to condom use" - "no, it's down to abstinence!"

Has anyone actually surveye the young people themselves and asked them?

Sorry, surveyed

I also found it odd that all the info seemed to come from people speculating. As you say - why not ask the young people???

is it not because its become cool in us to wait til you are married? just a guess

Watching the new simpsons part answered this for me. Homer explained the facts of life to a 10 year old Bart and his reactions was one of disgust and sat rocking in the corner, i.e he was horrified by the thought of sex. Now i know its only a cartoon but if this is part of the message that children in the states are getting and is considered as a normal 10 year old reaction then perhaps this why american teenagers aren't having sex.

Also in the USA the 'True Love Waits' messaged is preceached loud and clear. Unlike here sex is seen as cool and trendy.

in the uk single moms get a great many benefits. i had a sixteen year old girl who had a baby, and therefore had the equivalent of 800 pounds a month coming in, and her own little bedsit, independance for her basically.
i have a degree, a masters, was working bloody hard as a full time teacher and only had a take home pay of 1050 pounds a month. and i had to rely on my husband to pay the rent. and the childcare, which was 462 a month. rent was 425 a month.
do the maths.was it worth me working so hard to get the education, then spending a lot of my parents money on a wedding, and then working bloody hard day in day out, when i could get almost the same amount of money from the government for having unprotected sex at 15?
its a culture thing. if you know that you will get the monye, then why go thru the hassle of dealing with a bloke etc etc etc.

i worked my butt off, and all these girls hung around the park, or the shopping centre with there mates, and their fake nails, (which i couldnt afford) and their addidas, and nike clothes....
dont get me started, in this country having a baby as a teenager can make life easy.....

but not every one is like that i know. its just that all the teenage moms i knew were. and we can only go by what we know

So what is the birthrate in Greenland I wonder? (Must be to do with long hours of darkness and boredom on the icy wastes.....)

Have to agree with you Katzguk that in school I often see kids bragging openly about sex, and who has done it or not. Most kids don't admit that they have not had sex - they'll be ridiculed by their lass matess sadly

I know a lot of these other kids may well not have either, but it's the attitude - to have sex is cool, makes you grown up; to not have sex isn't cool.

And it isn't just the older teens talking about it. Someitme last month I arrived at school a bit later and walked through the playground and overheard two different, isolated conversions. The pupils were in Y7 - aged 11 and 12 years. And both within the space of 3 or 4 minutes one morning.

Conversion 1 was about flavoured condoms, and which flavour their bgirlfriends/bouyfriends prefered to use and why. Y7 are aged 11

Conversion 2 was Y7 girls taliking about sexual positions, and why certain positions offer better penetration and therefore make the sesations they feel more intense.

Let's face it - even if these kids aren't actually having sex (and I know many won't be but some may be ) they are talking so openly about it - and in ways that I wouldn't have been able to (or would have wanted to) at 11 years old.

Hulababy, that's really interesting. I'm sure I read an article a few months ago though that said that teen pregnancy and venereal disease was on the INCREASE especially in Southern states who were pushing the abstinence and faith theme. Unfortunately I can't remember where I read that.

I really don't like the abstinence approach but agree with the part of the article that says "There is a big difference between abstinence until marriage programmes and programmes that help young people resist peer press to have sex early." From what I've seen of the abstinence/faith plan in Texas it uses a great deal of guilt, judgement and does exclude many groups. I don't think that sends a very healthy message about sex. In my experience it only causes teenagers to be more secretive about any sexual activity they're having because having sex, even in a monogamous loving relationship, is not considered acceptable.

I do support sex education and contraception though. Unfortunately, I don't kow much about the approach in the UK as DS is only 2.

I personally feel that 12 year old should be not talking sex like that, i'm only 26 and remember when i was 12 that sex was something sniggered about in biology lessons and i don't think i single person in my whole year group was even thinking of having sex let alone having it.

my first thought is how the US conception and termination rates compare to the birth rate - i.e. are less US young girls actually getting PG, as opposed to giving birth.

katzguk - agree again; kids this age should not know enough to be able to discuss these things at all. But they somehow do - and it isn't just one or two kids either. Sad to think that their innocence is diminishing so early.

Just read through the posts and I'm also shocked at such young children talking about sex in such a way. I remember being curious at that age (and secretly reading my Mom's Cosmo for information!) but it certainly wasn't a topic of discussion on the playground! Where do they get this information?? Surely not from experience at 11.

I hope not tex111. Not read any young teen mags recently - is this the kind of stuff they have in them?

Good lord, surely not.

i hate to stay it but i'd imagine that yes it is in teen mags

here

teenmag

Wonder what age these are aimed at? And how many of the younger pre-teens are actually reading them.

Article here about girl's mags

"Mr Surman, a father of three daughters, criticised publishers of magazines like Bliss, Sugar and Cosmo Girl for targeting girls as young as 10 while publishing content that was unsuitable for children below the age of 14. Age restrictions should be made clear on the magazines, he said,

Much of the content was sexually very explicit, he said"

So that Bliss site you showed us was aimed at young teens

These are some clips from magazines (done in April like the article) to give people an idea:

Sugar

12-page Sex Uncovered feature, including: A day in the life of his tackle, sex slang explained and the Sugar sex survey 2004.

Expert Advice

Q I think my mate is a lesbian. She's always stroking my face and shoulders ... girls at school have started to call us lezzers.
A 14-year-old, Norfolk

A Tactfully explain that her behaviour is making you feel uncomfortable ... she might just be a touchy-feely person

bliss

Seven things you should know about boys and their bits and 'My boyfriend gave me herpes'

Expert Advice

Q My boy mates said they hate sleeping with virgins because there's blood everywhere. When I said I was a virgin, they laughed and said 'no lad will sleep with you, and even if they do, you'll hate it'
A 16-year-old, Dumfries

A All of us - boys included - worry about our first time ... waiting until you're ready and being with a guy who cares for you will make the experience a lot easier

Cosmo Girl

'I had a secret affair with my teacher' and a feature about 16-year-olds who don't look their age

Expert Advice

Q When I go out I get drunk and end up pulling people I don't know. I don't mean to lead them on, I'm just having fun ... Please help
A 15-year-old, London

A It's potentially very dangerous to get drunk and give your number to strangers ... why not ask for their number instead? ... Remember, it's illegal to buy alcohol if you're under 18

And we wonder why our teens are discussing sex so openly!

I think drink has a lot ot do with it. British people have been drunken slags since the dawn of time. Honest. The Romans were really shocked by how debauched and drunken the British were. I don't know why, but it does seem to be true. Also, I think peer pressure/acceptability of early motherhood is also an issue.

government stats.hmmmm trustworthy?

poor parenting
lack of education
lack of information
lack of hope for the future.

if benefits are so lucrative then please inform me why i shouldnt pop out another set of twins and give up my boring, lifeless, bollox, bullying, shit bastard job. cos i would in a heartbeat give up my job if something better that paid the bills came up. and if claiming benefits is such a piece o' piss then tell me why more people dont do it - serious question - not rhetorical BTW.

you should send people like me into schools to talk to children and tell them the truth about motherhood at 16 about how poor you are how depressed you can be - about how all school freidns sufddenly drop off the face of the planet some children just need to know wha the reality is on how much is costs to live. my kids aged 11 and 15 know this. i tell em often, often. 3/4 of the money we earn as paretns pay bills, for fucks sake i am still paying off shit from 10 years ago - poverty trap indeed. someone should tell the teens that a bedsit or a council housewith a baby isnt freedom and adulthood that its a jail in another name, that to work a 40 hour week will be NOTHING to the work you will have with a baby. that along with telephones come telephone bills, light bills, heating bills. water bills, you better ask them if they have a supporting family who is willing to pick up their shit becuase if not they will not see the inside of a pub - bar or club on a regular basis until they are at least 30 years old - to a 16 year old youmight as well be claiming a pension at 30. someone neds to tellt hem that babies dont love them they need them to be able to live. someone should tell them that a health visitor coming round with second hand toys as Xmas presents for your kid is the most degrading thing they will ever have to endure. that the cute little NIKE trainers and 3 wheeled pram with matching bag, bottle baychanging mat etc. will be unaffordable. someone should tell them that if they want to fuck their brains out at 14 then they should get downt he doctors to get protection.

without reading all the other posts, I think the answer is because they have their heads screwed on in the US. How else to explain it?!

Custardo - a really good posting there; gines a great perspective of what it must really be like Maybe we do need to send young mums onto schools to tell kids what it is really like, what the consequences of them having sex really means. They'll always be "accidents" but these kids need to know more about protecting themselves if they are going to have sex.