Alfie - 13 year old Dad

[glatt]

The parents probably had kids when they were too young, which is why the parents (and thus their kids) are poor. Parents who had kids at a young age probably create an environment where it is likely that their kids will have kids at a young age.

And it will happen again with the next generation. That little baby will also be having kids as a teen.

[Pie]

"Rich, liberal-elite" kids don't have nearly as high a pregnancy rate as "rich conservatives" -- mostly on the basis of information, goals and role-models. And it goes beyond teens.

In Regnerus's survey, the teen-agers who espouse this new morality are tolerant of premarital sex (and of contraception and abortion) but are themselves cautious about pursuing it. Regnerus writes, "They are interested in remaining free from the burden of teenage pregnancy and the sorrows and embarrassments of sexually transmitted diseases. They perceive a bright future for themselves, one with college, advanced degrees, a career, and a family. Simply put, too much seems at stake. Sexual intercourse is not worth the risks." These are the kids who tend to score high on measures of "strategic orientation"--how analytical, methodical, and fact-seeking they are when making decisions. Because these teen-agers see abstinence as unrealistic, they are not opposed in principle to sex before marriage--just careful about it. Accordingly, they might delay intercourse in favor of oral sex, not because they cherish the idea of remaining "technical virgins" but because they assess it as a safer option. "Solidly middle- or upper-middle-class adolescents have considerable socioeconomic and educational expectations, courtesy of their parents and their communities' lifestyles," Regnerus writes. "They are happy with their direction, generally not rebellious, tend to get along with their parents, and have few moral qualms about expressing their nascent sexuality." They might have loved Ellen Page in "Juno," but in real life they'd see having a baby at the wrong time as a tragic derailment of their life plans. For this group, Regnerus says, unprotected sex has become "a moral issue like smoking or driving a car without a seatbelt. It's not just unwise anymore; it's wrong."

(From here.)

Here's the problem:
Lack of realistic, attainable goals.
Lack of role-models.
Lack of accurate information.
Lack of affordable, easily available contraception.

[Sundae]

As this is a UK-specific post, at least in terms of the OT, you can take the last item off the list.
Possibly the last two - I had sex education from the age of 11 at my Catholic school. Including information regarding contraception. And every year after that at my grammar school!
And contraception in all forms is available free here, certainly for teenagers. You can even pick up handfuls of free condoms at the local family planning centre.

Add to the list - probably already covered generally - is the lack of parental assumption that teen pregnancy is a bad thing. My schoolfriends and I would have been mortified if we fell pregnant in our teens. Absolutely curl up and want to die and hide our faces forever more. It's not a sensible reaction (and not one that girls at the extremes of the social scale would have) but it was what we learned from our parents. So, yes - the fear of the shame was a huge motivator in ensuring we used contraception, or even abstained from sex altogether. It was like being fat, and having a tattoo saying "stupid" across your forehead. And having to wear gross clothes too! And that going on for none months and then maybe even forever!

Poor girls - poorer than me I mean, and I've explained before I'm from a council estate - and rich girls lived without this shame. The poor because their Mums had them at 17 anyway, and their sisters got pregnant at 15 and got their own flats from the Council. The rich because indulgent parents sorted things out one way or another, and the girls still ended up at University or working for Daddy's friend. Gross generalisation, but this was how it seemed at the time. And yes, I knew girls from different social strata who got "in the family way".

Us in the middle? Our Mums would have skinned us and got our sisters to wear the skin as a warning that we should never ruin our lives in that way.

Hmmm. Maybe that's why I didn't want children?!

[classicman]

Related to Evangelicals - C'mon Pie - Thats the broadest of all brushes. Sheesh. Do you really think ALL R's are Evangelicals or worse?

"Why Do So Many Evangelical Teenagers Become Pregnant?"
By Margaret Talbot
(Areas of Expertise: Civil Liberties, Elections & Political Parties, Family & Children, Feminism)
New America Foundation The New Yorker

[Pie]

No, just the stupid ones.

[DanaC]

The poverty factor mainly relates to a greater level of social breakdown, higher levels of drug and alcohol use, higher levels of unemployment, low-paid, unskilled employment, and (in the case of the areas I was talking about) a culture of low expectations and social dislocation.

I say cultural, because these factors have coalesced into a kind of cultural identity. It's generational.

[glatt]

But does the poverty cause the social attitudes, or do the attitudes cause the poverty?

[Pie]

Yes.

[Aliantha]

There are young teenage parents all over the world. We have them here although I don't know of any personally, but they are out there. When I was in high school one of the girls got knocked up at 16 and spent her last year at school as a social outcast just about. I had no idea what to make of it at that time. I was pretty naive about sex back then. We heard about other girls who'd gotten pregnant younger, but then they mysteriously weren't anymore.

I came from a pretty solid middle class area as did most of the kids I went to high school with. I'm sure poverty has something to do with it, but early pregnancy is definitely not the problem of one social group. At least not here.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by glatt

But does the poverty cause the social attitudes, or do the attitudes cause the poverty?

I'm inclined to think that the economic pressures came first. The areas I was talking about follow a farly common pattern for the old industrial North: textile town, strong working-class culture, loses its manufacturing during the 80s and 90s. The town becomes effectively a dormitory town (in our case for Leeds and Bradford) and service industry base, the old textile communities adapt or die. In the case of the two areas mentioned, they died. As the town struggled with high unemployment in the 90s, areas of high depreivation began to form. The old social structures that came with the working-class culture of old have dissolved in those parts of town, but not been replaced by anything. Those areas become the cheap and nasty areas which is where the poorer families end up.

Economic and social collapse in some areas has left a hell of a legacy. It is all encompassing. The schools expect less of their pupils, parents have lower expectations of their children. Family breakdown, exacerbated by unemployment, debt etc, leaves kids without the parenting and support they need. They then become more likely to parent in the same way (without some kind of intervention). The sense of dislocation amongst some of these communities is palpable.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by classicman

Related to Evangelicals - C'mon Pie - Thats the broadest of all brushes. Sheesh. Do you really think ALL R's are Evangelicals or worse?

Her post stated;

"Rich, liberal-elite" kids don't have nearly as high a pregnancy rate as "rich conservatives"

Where does she say all rich people are evangelicals?

[Pie]

Think he meant "Rs" = "Republicans"

[classicman]

read the link Bruce. It was the author I was referring to not her. I then made the ASSUMPTION that Pie was lumping all R's in with evangelicals.

[classicman]

Oh and R's does equal republicans too -

[binky]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Amazing, all this talk and the kid may not be the father.

I see teens prego all the time. It really is a problem world wide. The youngest I have seen was prego at 12 and delivered at 13.

Kids need better education about birth control options and access to it. Not talk.

Just think. This could happen to your kid.

Aww shit Merc! Why did you have to say THAT? I have 3 daughters, and the middle one turns 13 next month.