Lot of guesswork in the text. I'll add my own.
The fall in this statistic looks quite similar to the fall in crime. Both are reckless shortsighted behavior, and I'd bet there is a common cause.
Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
71–80 of 211 posts
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#72Delaying coitus long enough to consider the economic consequences of an unwanted pregnancy is some pretty hard-core adulting. If I remember anything about that age it was the manic ache to fuck. No, I'm pretty sure access to porn has something to do with it. "widespread availability of broadband Internet" LOL
Good point. Porn for lots of boys, and celibacy for lots of girls. But hey, maybe they'll just grow out of it. My generation eventually grew out of promiscuity. Or maybe "aged out" is more accurate ;) HIV was a huge bring-down, too :(
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#73Lot of guesswork in the text. I'll add my own. The fall in this statistic looks quite similar to the fall in crime. Both are reckless shortsighted behavior, and I'd bet there is a common cause.
Didn't freakonomics write about the reverse relationship? Contraceptives helped reduce unwanted pregnancies... unwanted pregnancies turn in to unwanted babies/children that eventually have a higher probability of turning into criminals.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#74"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 -- des…
How much actual evidence is there that this has anything to do with contraception? I'm getting old now, and from what I can tell contraception was just as available when I was a teen as it is now.
When I was a teen (10 years ago) a friend of mine was a drug dealer. He dealt morning-after pills to girls who couldn't get them normally.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Education probably plays a good part in it. When I was growing up, and I'm only 30, we didn't get much sexual education in school, were taught to simply not have sex and many of my friends thought many untruths like pulling out is fine, douching is a form of contraception and even one unfortunate friend who thought ziplock bags were just as effective as condoms.
I am 35 and in the US we had very detailed sex ed including how to use a condom, how wide the contraceptive window was ect starting around 12ish. IMO, this is really more an issue with many local schools being horrible than anything else.
I am 34 in the US and didn't learn how to apply condoms until I was an adult, and I learned it from pornography.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not parent but I wonder if it could be both? Though I think the former was the original intent but I hadn't thought about the latter.
My wild hypothesis is that teens may be more aware of the rising cost of parenthood and may rationally be avoiding the situation altogether.
Parenthood provides virtually no economic benefit in modern industrial society. More so now, with mobility and weakening of family ties. Children cost a lot, and they probably won't help when you're old. So why bother?
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#77I'm surprised no one has brought up lead - childhood lead exposure leads to more rash behavior, and the drop in teen pregnancy starts roughly when the first children who were born after the removal of lead from gasoline and paint started would have become teenagers.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/02/unleaded-gasol...
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#78"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 -- des…
If I were gonna bet on it.. the first explanation I would gravitate towards would be that these teens might have been the children of single teenage mothers/fathers themselves.. and lived through the hardship of that situation first hand.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#79Delaying coitus long enough to consider the economic consequences of an unwanted pregnancy is some pretty hard-core adulting. If I remember anything about that age it was the manic ache to fuck. No, I'm pretty sure access to porn has something to do with it. "widespread availability of broadband Internet" LOL
Good point. Porn for lots of boys, and celibacy for lots of girls. But hey, maybe they'll just grow out of it. My generation eventually grew out of promiscuity. Or maybe "aged out" is more accurate ;) HIV was a huge bring-down, too :(
Girls look at porn. Times have changed man.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Education probably plays a good part in it. When I was growing up, and I'm only 30, we didn't get much sexual education in school, were taught to simply not have sex and many of my friends thought many untruths like pulling out is fine, douching is a form of contraception and even one unfortunate friend who thought ziplock bags were just as effective as condoms.
I am 35 and in the US we had very detailed sex ed including how to use a condom, how wide the contraceptive window was ect starting around 12ish. IMO, this is really more an issue with many local schools being horrible than anything else.
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