During the only televised debate of the major vice-presidential candidates in the 2004 election cycle, moderator Gwen Ifill asked Dick Cheney and John Edwards about the crisis among African-American women, and what they-if elected-would do about it.

FACT SHEETS ON THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS

Summary: Both pregnancy and childbirth rates declined dramatically for African American females during the 1990s. Despite these declines, they remain more likely than their white or Latina counterparts to report having been pregnant. However, black female teens were less likely to report childbirth than Latina teens in 2000

Authors
Wilhelmina A. Leigh PhD and
Julia L. Andrews

The Joint Center gratefully acknowledges the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which supported the research for and publication of, this face sheet. We also thank the W.K. Kellog Foundation and our general support donors for helping to make this publication possible

Pregnancy

The late 1990s was a period of record low pregnancy rates for all teens. Teens were less likely to become pregnant in 1997 than at any time since 1976 (when national data about pregnancy rates first became available). Between 1990 (when peak rates were recorded) and 1997, pregnancy rates for African American teens ages 15 to19 declined 23 percent, only slightly less than the 26-percent decline in pregnancy rates for white teens.

Despite these declines, African American teens are more likely than others to report having ever been pregnant. In 2001, African American high school students were about twice as likely as their white or Hispanic counterparts to indicate that they had been pregnant or that they had gotten someone pregnant. (Figures A and B)

If a black teen has a first pregnancy by 19, she is nearly twice as likely as a white teen to carry the pregnancy to term and to have a live birth.

However, not all pregnancies are carried to term. Some are terminated either by abortion or by other forms of fetal loss. In 1997, the pregnancy rate among African American females ages 15 to 19 was 170.4 (per 1,000), and the live birth rate was 88.2. The rate of induced abortions was 62.7 (per 1,000), and the rate of other forms of fetal loss was 16.9. The 1997 pregnancy, live birth, and abortion rates for African American teens were more than double the rates for white teens, although the rates for Hispanic teens (especially for pregnancies and live births) were comparable to the rates among African American teens.

Childbirth

The Joint Center gratefully acknowledges the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which supported the research for and publication of, this face sheet. We also thank the W.K. Kellog Foundation and our general support donors for helping to make this publication possible

Births to teens ages 15 to 19 traditionally have been more common among African Americans than among all other teens. During the late 20th century, birth rates for black teens were at least double the rates for white teens. (Figure C)

After declining from higher rates in the 1970s and early 1980s, births to females ages 15 to19 as a share of all U.S. births increased during the 1990s. In 1990, teen births were less than 13 percent of all U.S. births; in 1998, teen births were nearly 15 percent of all U.S. births. However, black teen births as a share of all black births declined slightly during the 1990s. Teen births were nearly a quarter of all black births in 1990, declining to 21.5 percent of all black births by 1998.

Also during the late 20th century, the proportion of babies born to unmarried adolescents increased. In 1980, of all births to black teens, 86 percent were to unwed mothers, and of all births to white teens, 33 percent were to unwed mothers. By 1999, most births to all teens occurred outside of marriage (79 percent).

However, childbirth rates declined dramatically for black teens between 1991 and 2000. The birth rate declined 40 percent among black teens ages 15 to 17 and 24 percent among black teens ages 18 to 19. (Figure D) Rates of decline were comparable (although smaller) for white and Hispanic teens during this period.

References

1. Ventura, Stephanie J., W.D. Mosher, Sally C. Curtin, Joyce C. Abma, and Stanley Henshaw. 2001. “Trends in Pregnancy Rates for the United States, 1976-97: An Update,” National Vital Statistics Reports Vol. 49, No. 4 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics).

2. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 1995. 1996. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC Surveillance Summaries) Vol. 45, No. SS-4 (September 27).

3. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 1997. 1998. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC Surveillance Summaries) Vol. 47, No. SS-3 (August 14).

4. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 1999. 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC Surveillance Summaries) Vol. 49, No. SS-5 (June 9).

5. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2001. 2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC Surveillance Summaries) Vol. 51, No. SS-4 (June 28).

6. Hogan, Dennis P., Rongjun Sun, and Gretchen T. Cornwell. 2000. “Sexual and Fertility Behaviors of American Females Aged 15-19 Years: 1985, 1990, and 1995,” American Journal of Public Health Vol. 90, No. 9, pp. 1421-1425.

7. Ventura, Stephanie J., T.J. Mathews, and Brady E. Hamilton. 2001. “Births to Teenagers in the United States, 1940-2000,” National Vital Statistics Reports Vol. 49, No. 10 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics).

8. Moore, Kristin A., Margaret C. Simms, and Charles L. Betsey. 1986. Choice and Circumstance: Racial Differences in Adolescent Sexuality and Fertility (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers).

 9. United States Census Bureau. 2000. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2000 (120th edition) (Washington, DC: U.S. Govern- ment Printing Office).

10. Chilman, Catherine S. 1980. “Social and Psychological Research Concerning Adolescent Childbearing: 1970-1980,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, pp. 793-805.

11. Freeman, Ellen W., and Karl Rickels. 1993. Early Childbearing: Perspectives of Black Adolescents on Pregnancy, Abortion, and Contracep- tion Vol. 192, Sage Library of Social Research (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications).

12. Moore, Kristin A., Jennifer Manlove, Elizabeth Terry-Humen, Stephanie Williams, Angela Romano Papillo, and Juliet Scarpa. 2001. CTS Facts at a Glance (Washington, DC: Child Trends, Inc.)

The link between food insecurity and the physical health of children has been well documented; however, a gap remains in the research on the impact of food insecurity on young children. Analyses of the effects of food insecurity on the development of infants and toddlers have not been published to date, while only a few studies have specifically focused on food insecurity among young black and Latino children. This report links food insecurity and child development, with a specific focus on black and Latino children under the age of three who are living in lowincome households.

In a national “Call to Action” released in 2003, the Surgeon General of the United States challenged public and private institutions to ensure that all Americans achieve optimal oral health. As the report states, “oral health is essential to general health and well-being and can be achieved.” The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, through its Health Policy Institute, is taking up the challenge with this special report on strategies to improve the oral health status of African American men — one of the most neglected groups.

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Historically, the focal point of the discourse on the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents has been teen pregnancy, and the population of interest has been adolescent females ages 10-14 and ages 15-19. Issues related to the sexual and reproductive health of young males were seldom considered, as reflected in the type of data collected—or not collected—for male and female teens. In the late 1980s, this began to change with an increased emphasis on issues related to male teens, in part due to the spread of infections such as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and chlamydia. Our knowledge about the sexual and reproductive health outcomes and behaviors of young men of color (Hispanic or Latino, black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander) is shaped by the methods used to gather and analyze the relevant data. These methods and the resulting data, however, do not always accurately reflect trends for this group. This report traces our knowledge about the sexual and reproductive health of young men of color from outcomes to behaviors, and then discusses some of the complexities associated with studying this population.

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The executive summary for this publication can be found here.

During the 1990s, reported rates of infection among African American teens increased for some sexually related diseases (e.g., chlamydia) but decreased for others (e.g., gonorrhea and syphilis). However, all sexually related diseases—in particular, HIV infection and AIDS—are more prevalent among black adolescents than among all other teens.

Although African American adolescents remain more likely than their white or Latino counterparts to report engaging in sexual activity, the gaps among the groups in reported sexual experience have narrowed over the past 25 years. Factors found to lessen the greater likelihood of sexual intercourse among African American teens include family structure, educational attainment, socioeconomic status, and spiritual interconnectedness.