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?

Hellomamma, surely both issues need to be addressed? Sending young people off to clinics for contraceptive advice & info is passing the buck; parents and schools need to teach this. Or is your point that young people shouldn't be having sex?

This, imo, is a dangerous position. Telling young people to wait until they are in a loving, longterm relationship is to deny the fact that sometimes they won't and they need to be informed their choices, whatever the context their sexual encounters take. Teaching young people to respect themselves, and others and to never do anything they don't want to do is all a part of this.

Custardo, agree about benefits... benefits do not give people a life it is subsistance living... benefits, on the whole, are not meant for the long term. Being on benefits is about getting by. It is not about living an easy life.

winnie1 i agree with you completely, however i am coming from the point of view that i know how few sessions in schools these young people have to learn about sex ed, sometimes only a couple of hours of teaching in a whole year! So although I do feel that sending them off to a clinic is a bit like passing the buck, at least in the clinic there is time to fully discuss contraceptive options and personalise the info given, rather than wasting the precious time allowed in schools by doing a bit of a rubbish whistle-stop tour just because you have ot fit it in.

I definitely am NOT going down the no sex until you're married / in a serious relationship road as I think that is totally unrealistic, BUT I do think (and this is supported by the research) that most young people regret their first experiences of sex, and they say that they wish they had waited until they met someone who was special to them and they had been in a relationship, rather than doing it because they were drunk, or on drugs, or at a party, or felt pressured, etc. This is why I think if they had been taught about boosting their self esteem and confidence and negotiating themselves and knowing their own boundaries a bit better, we wouldnt have some of the problems we have now.

Obviously if the time is available, then teaching about contraceptives and infections is VERY important, but I know lots of schools just don't have this luxury. Like you say though, in an ideal world, they would be taught about both issues as i think they are both important.

Hellomamma, thanks for responding to my post. I have always talked to my dd (now 15) about sex (in appropriate ways depending on age and questions asked) and we have been talking about it a lot lately. Some thoughts are posted on the thread: Contraceptive injections for under-16s?
What is apparent is the influence peers have on teenagers behaviour and I think one has to have a very solid relationship with ones teenager to countreact any negative influences. I also think (rather oldfashioned[ly]?) that parental role models are important too. I am stunned by how many teenagers have no conversations with parents about the subject and if dd's experience of sex ed is anything to go by the entire class switches off as the teacher is simply "unbelievable & unapproachable". Going to a clinic just seems an unlikely thing for most teenagers to attempt. Last night dd told me that one girl she knows has decided that she wants a baby "to love and look after" something Caligula mentioned She also said that in a class yesterday they were discussing the many aspects of 'love' and many of her classmates could not see love as anything other than sexual or familial

custardo, I didn't say benefits are lucrative but there are plenty of people out there that don't work as they get more on benefits for not working.

I'd like to know who these people are who get more on benefits than not working. The government's current policy of "making work pay" is by all accounts quite successful - there shouldn't be situations (although I'm sure there probably still are) where anyone is worse off on benefits than working.

(Not that I'm a naive person who believes everything the government tells her, but apparantly the make work pay policy, because of tax credits, has actually made it so that technically, most people really are financially better off working than on benefits. Which was certainly not the case 10 years ago.)

Caligula, I work in the voluntary sector and deal with this issue on a daily basis and sadly there are instances when couples with children are better off on benefits than working and especially if considering moving in together it is the case that couples are literally only a couple of pounds better off living under the same roof and working than living separately and one working an done not. However this does not mean that the benefit system gives people a wonderful life style. It also does not mean that these people do not want to work.

meant to write "only a couple of pounds if anything (will learn to preview one day )

It was ten years ago but there was a time when DH and I were both working full time (DH in insurance and me for an arts charity, so not McDonalds or anything like that) and his sister and her husband were living off of benefits with three children and they made £11,000 more a year than we did! Her husband received disability as well (though he played football every Sunday grrrrrr!). They rented a private house so weren't in council housing and had two cars, cable TV, VCRs, fancy stereo equipment, two computers, Playstation for the kids, etc, etc. DH and I were in a tiny flat, no TV, no stereo and sometimes lived on cheese sandwiches when things were really tight. Hopefully the system has changed now but it was definitely true in the past that people could be much better off.

Meant to say people could be much better off on benefits than working.

so you must have been on about 35-40k tex they were on 51K on benefits, can you ask her how please as i would like to do that too.

i have said this beofre but will do again. i have a friend with 5 children. 2 are disabled. we worked out how much she got in benefits including rent which was paid council tax everything. she got in benefits what i earn now. this was about a year ago. so htat didnt include my dh's wages, just mine. i dont resent it becuase caring for 5 children 2 of which are disabled is very hard for her and she is constantly depressed. she has no pension to rely on, no hope for the future, no workplace achievements no continued professional developments. so in ten years when she is mid 40's she will have not a lot of income as all but one of her children will have left home probably, she has no educational qualifications behind her and no job history. and she is very aware of this.

it is easier to go from a job to a job than from unemployment to employment.

custardo, I wouldn't assume an income of £35-40k for those jobs. Here in Nottingham if those jobs were basic admin roles, the income (now) could be around £25k combined, probably less.

Don't know where tex is though. And no idea of what anyone on benefits gets orund here.

I don't know the answer to the original question, but it is a very interesting subject. I have a hard time believeing that abstinence education really has much impact. I do think kids need to be educated about safe sex while being encouraged to wait until they're older and in a stable relationship.

A couple of points though.

In the US sex is illegal till age 18, and drinking alcohol is illegal until age 21. Both those things could have an impact on teen pregnancy rates.

Here's an interesting study from the US from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on sexual and reproductive health research, policy analysis and public education.

"Teenage pregnancy rates in 2000 varied widely by state, ranging from 42 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15?19 in North Dakota to 113 per 1,000 in Nevada and 128 per 1,000 in the District of Columbia (Table 2). The highest state adolescent pregnancy rates after Nevada?s were in Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Maine had the lowest rates after North Dakota?s.

"Teenage birthrates for 2000 also varied considerably by state (Table 2). The highest rates (66?71 births per 1,000 women aged 15?19) were in Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas and New Mexico; in the District of Columbia, 56 births occurred per 1,000 teenage women. New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Maine had the lowest rates (23?29 per 1,000)."

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We were in Cambridge at the time and DH and I were earning about £25,000 a year so SIL was on about £36,000. I can totally understand someone with five children, two of whome are disabled, needing some assistance. My problem with SIL was that she and her DH were very able-bodied and had three healthy kids, but she was very good at 'working' the system. They also did cash in hand work for 'fun money'. I know she managed to get the council to pay for a car at one point too, but don't know how she went about it. I hate to think that she could've been taking benefits that others needed more badly but I would suggest it's quite possible.

KATG, just to add that the age of consent is decided state by state so it is younger in some states. Texas was 18 but Oklahoma was 16 and Louisiana was 14 when I lived in the US. Had a few friends who crossed state lines to get married. It was also legal in Louisiana to marry your first cousin! Thankfully, don't know anyone who married their cousin though.

i dont understand how a sin@le parent with five kids 2 of which are disabled have less on benefits than your sil - and my firend knows how the system works inside out.

if you could @et the details to me via CAT i would be thankful as i want to pack my job in