On this page

• The Importance of Prevention
• Recent Increases in Teen Birth Rates
• What is CDC doing?
• What is a Science-Based Approach to Teen Pregnancy Prevention?
• Disparities in Teen Childbearing
• What More Needs to be Done?

The Importance of Prevention

In 2006, there were 435,436 births to mothers aged 15–19 years in the United States, a birth rate of 41.9 per 1,000 women in this age group.¹ The majority, nearly two thirds among mothers under age 18 and more than half among mothers aged 18–19 years, of teen births are unintended—they occurred sooner than desired or were not wanted at any time.² U.S. teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates are considerably higher than most other developed countries.³

Teen pregnancy and childbearing bring substantial social and economic costs through immediate and long-term impacts on teen parents and their children.

• Preventing teen childbearing could save the United States about $9 billion per year.⁴
• Teen mothers face higher rates of preterm birth, and their infants have higher rates of low birth weight, and infant death.⁵
• Compared to women who delay childbearing until the age of 20 to 21 years, teenage mothers, aged 19 and younger, are more likely to—
  • drop out of high school,
  • and to be and remain single parents.⁶
• The children of teenage mothers are more likely to—
  • have lower cognitive attainment and proficiency scores at kindergarten entry,
  • exhibit behavior problems,
  • have chronic medical conditions,
  • rely more heavily on publicly provided health care,
  • be incarcerated at some time during adolescence until their early 30s, and
  • drop out of high school, give birth as a teenager, and be unemployed, or underemployed as a young adult.⁶

These effects remain for the teen mother and her child even after adjusting for those factors that increased the teenager’s risk for pregnancy; such as, growing up in poverty, having parents with low levels of education, growing up in a single-parent family, and having low attachment to and performance in school.³

Recent Increases in Teen Birth Rates

After declining steadily from 1991–2005, birth rates for 15- to19-year-olds increased significantly between 2005 and 2006 in 26 states from all regions of the country. This increase was not seen among younger teens: birth rates for 10- to14-year-olds declined from 0.7 to 0.6 per 1,000 girls. In addition, the number of births for 15- to19-year-olds rose 3% to 435,436 in 2006, compared to 414,593 in 2005—the largest increase in a single year since 1989–1990. Causes for this increase are not yet known, but bear concern due to the potential increase in the socioeconomic burden of teen pregnancy and childbearing.¹ For the most recent report on birth rates from the National Center for Health Statistics.

What is CDC doing?

Building upon the successes of a previous 3-year project, Coalition Capacity Building to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, in 2005 CDC funded a 5-year cooperative agreement with three national organizations, four Title X regional training organizations, and nine state teen pregnancy prevention coalitions to increase the capacity of local organizations to select, implement, and evaluate a science-based approach to prevent teen pregnancy, HIV, and STDs in their communities. For more information see CDC’s Promoting Science-based Approaches to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV and STDs project .

CDC is also working through these state-based teen pregnancy prevention coalitions to collaborate with state education agencies to implement science-based prevention programs in youth-serving organizations and schools.

What is a Science-Based Approach to Teen Pregnancy Prevention?

Using science-based approaches for teen pregnancy prevention helps ensure that programs have a greater chance of succeeding. A science-based approach includes the following:

• Uses demographic, epidemiological, and social science research to identify populations at risk for early pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases, and identifies the risk and protective factors for those populations.
• Uses health behavior or health education theory for selecting risk and protective factors that will be addressed by the program, and helps select intervention activities.
• Uses a logic model to link risk and protective factors with program strategies and outcomes.
• Selects, adapting if necessary, and implements rigorously evaluated programs.
• Conducts process and outcome evaluation of the implemented program, and modifies approach based on results.

Disparities in Teen Childbearing

Eliminating disparities and achieving health equity is an important part of CDC’s teen pregnancy prevention work. Several states and regions are working to address the needs of youth at greatest risk for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. African American youth, Latino youth, Native Hawaiian youth, and youth in foster care are all priority populations being served through this project.

Birth rates (live births) per 1,000 Women Aged 15–19 Years,
by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity: United States, 2006

*A/PI: *Asian/Pacific Islander
**AI/AN: American Indian/Alaska Native

Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, Ventura SJ, Menacker F, Kirmeyer S, Mathews TJ.. Births: Final data for 2006. National Vtal Statistics Reports 2009;57(7).
CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, VitalStats.

What More Needs to be Done?

Preventing pregnancy, including subsequent pregnancies among teen parents, can provide young people with the best opportunity to succeed in adult life. CDC’s main focus for promoting adolescent sexual and reproductive health include the following:

• Achieving health equity through eliminating racial, ethnic, and other disparities in teen pregnancy, and reducing HIV and STD rates.
• Applying youth development approaches to promoting adolescent reproductive health.
• Continuing to build state and local capacity to use science-based approaches to promote teen health.

1. Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, Ventura SJ, Menacker F, Kirmeyer S, Mathews TJ.. Births: Final data for 2006. National Vital Statistics Reports 2009;57( 7).
2. Chandra A, Martinez GM, Mosher WD, Abma JC, Jones J. Fertility, family planning, and reproductive health of U.S. women: Data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Vital Health Stat 2005;23(25). `
3. Singh S, Darroch JE. Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing: levels and trends in developed countries. Family Planning Perspectives 2000;32(1):14–23.
4. Hoffman S. By the numbers: the public costs of teen childbearing. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2006.
5. Ventura SJ, Mathews TJ, Hamilton BE. Births to teenagers in the United States, 1940–2000. National Vital Statistics Reports 2001;49(10).
6. Hoffman SD. Kids having kids: economic costs and social consequences of teen pregnancy. The Urban Institute Press, 2008.

Page last reviewed: 8/10/09
Page last modified: 8/10/09
Content source: Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion