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Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
131–140 of 211 posts
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
This runs counter to the belief that many have that when given higher access to contraceptives, teens will have more sex. Another knock against abstinence-only sex ed!
Perhaps wider access to contraceptives still encourages more sex, but there were other forces even stronger in the other direction?
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Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
There is _more_ contraception options now available to teens. I know for a fact that IUDs were not being given to teens a decade ago, they were barely just being given to adult women in the U.S. Access to the Morning After pill has greatly increased for everyone. Then you have options like Depo-Provera. On top of that, the stigma around using the pill decreases all the time. Parents are willing to get the pill for th…
> now you buy condoms online
Mail order condoms was common long before the web was popularized.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#134Delaying 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
Hmm. I wonder if there could be some societal change 20 years ago that could have an effect? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Wo...
Pretty impressive if Bill Clinton managed to make UK teen pregnancy rates fall as well.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mathematically, sure, that's fine. Empirically/theoretically, you've dug yourself into a hole that is difficult to get out of. You're going against Occam's razor so now you've got a lot of 'splainin' to do.
It's not clear to me how (and if) Occam's Razor should necessarily be applied in this context. We are not choosing between a very simple, and a vastly complex alternative. Rather we are choosing between an unintuitive and probably complex option (contraceptives are causing less copulation - this does not sound at all like a simple suggestion to me), and admitting that our models and data may not be complete. Either w…
And Occam's razor is really more of a 'which one should we test first' kind of criterion, rather than 'this one is automatically true as it's the simplest.'
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is _more_ contraception options now available to teens. I know for a fact that IUDs were not being given to teens a decade ago, they were barely just being given to adult women in the U.S. Access to the Morning After pill has greatly increased for everyone. Then you have options like Depo-Provera. On top of that, the stigma around using the pill decreases all the time. Parents are willing to get the pill for th…
> now you buy condoms online Mail order condoms was common long before the web was popularized.
Yes, but you still had to get them shipped home, where parents would ask you what you've ordered. Now with amazon it takes 3 clicks, and you can get them delivered to a drop-off location anywhere(at least here in UK I can get amazon parcels delivered to a nearby corner shop for example).
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#137"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…
This runs counter to the belief that many have that when given higher access to contraceptives, teens will have more sex. Another knock against abstinence-only sex ed!
What bugs me is that if abstinence only sex ed pushers are going to defy the obvious, they should at least make their claims more entertaining. Virginity will grant you the ability to fly and speak to birds. Contraception causes vampires. Having sex outside of marriage will make your skin split and a 20-foot tall bright red demon will emerge from your fleshy husk. Kissing gives you polka-dot leprosy.
I mean, if you're going to be unbound by facts or reality, why be boring?
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#138Teenagers now engage in more virtual interaction over social media, and the number of teens with driving licenses has decreased dramatically over the same period - I think the scope of their social interaction has increased, but they have significantly less physical privacy. They spend more of their time in contexts where adult monitoring is possible.
I also think the availability of porn and the increased pressure to adopt a low-time-preference mindset also alters the risk/reward calculus of potentially procreative sex. With the disappearance of much well-paid blue-collar work, both in reality and the public consciousness, derailing the fast track to college is much more costly than it was in the past.
On a more speculative note, I can't help but wonder what the effect of more widespread hormonal contraception has been on female sexual desire, and maybe even on the prevalence of environmental estrogens potentially affecting males.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would tend to agree. More information about sex (the reproductive "risks" as well as contraception availability, shift in acceptance of oral sex (as alternative when contraception is not available) as well as the acceptance of same-sex sex experimentation by these teenagers as well as young adults. It's astounding how before the wide availability of information, people believed in "folk" contraception.
I'm 35, American, middle class, Northeast of the country. I remember people in my early TEENS who thought you could not become pregnant from your first sexual experience, among other "folk" tales. It is, as you say, astounding. What makes it so absurd though, is that for decades it's been a largely artificial state of ignorance enforced by people who forgot what it was like to be young.
I'm sorry but I want to point out you are not middle class. There is only one class: humans.
Re: Teen birth rate hits all-time low, led by 50% decline among Hispanics and blacks
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is _more_ contraception options now available to teens. I know for a fact that IUDs were not being given to teens a decade ago, they were barely just being given to adult women in the U.S. Access to the Morning After pill has greatly increased for everyone. Then you have options like Depo-Provera. On top of that, the stigma around using the pill decreases all the time. Parents are willing to get the pill for th…
Vasalgel, an excellent contraceptive for men is slowly making its way through the FDA's testing process: https://www.parsemusfoundation.org/projects/vasalgel/
Not sure why you're getting downvotes. From what I've read it is as effective as vasectomy, but fully reversible.