Teen birthrate all-time low, 50 percent decline among Hispanics and Blacks

[Luiz 4,253]

The birthrate among American teenagers, at crisis levels in the 1990s, has fallen to an all-time low, according to an analysis released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The decline of the past decade has occurred in all regions in the country and among all races. But the most radical changes have been among Hispanic and black teens, whose birthrates have dropped nearly 50 percent since 2006.

Theories on the reasons for the dramatic shift include everything from new approaches to sex education to the widespread availability of broadband Internet. But most experts agree on the two major causes.

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 -- despite their portrayal in popular TV and movies as uninhibited and acting only on hormones -- are having less sex.

"There has been a change in social norms that has happened in the past 20 years, and the idea of not having sex or delaying sex is now something that can be okay," said Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Veronica Gomez-Lobo, director of pediatric gynecology at Children’s National Medical Center, said the trend of abstinence has been mostly among younger teens rather than older ones. While there's not good data on why this is happening, she thinks of it as a “contagion” factor. So many teens are waiting to have sex, she suggests, that the peer pressure goes the opposite way than it might have in the past.

“We think this is a very healthy trend,” Gomez-Lobo said.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/04/28/teen-birth-rate-hits-all-time-low-led-by-50-percent-decline-among-hispanics-and-blacks/

[RAMROD 117,044]

Well, that's good, isn't it? :yes:

 

[Sizzily 14,571]

Well thank god 

[JGD 12,098]

Well, of course.

[gag 22,449]

And yet Generation X/baby boomers still have the audacity to complain about how teenage pregnancies has gone out of control.

 

[Peroxide 9,202]

Good, teenagers scare me.

[PERFECTIONIST 2,139]

because everyone wants to break the stereotype

[LUO YI 6,089]

I would be happy if that happened here 

[PartySick 172,532]

37 minutes ago, gag said:

And yet Generation X/baby boomers still have the audacity to complain about how teenage pregnancies has gone out of control.

 

This tbh. Our generation kicks ass  

[AlexanderLevi2 5,849]

26 minutes ago, C Slayclair said:

because everyone wants to break the stereotype

That's not actually why....

[VANTABLACK 7,793]

@AlexanderLevi2

They all turned gay because of Lady gaga that's why 

[Slayer 9,227]

Tbh I agree with what this article says about the Internet being a big factor. I think children and teens today are a lot smarter than they were 20 years ago, because of the amount of information at their fingertips.  

[PERFECTIONIST 2,139]

15 minutes ago, AlexanderLevi2 said:

That's not actually why....

ALL my straight girlfriends got on the pill because and this comes from themselves

"I don't want to end up a pregnant teenager like my parents"

[Dominic 11,922]

That is really good news.  There's many factors; contraception is easier to obtain and you can have injections/implants that last years rather than a daily pill, people are becoming more aware of the consequences and also as someone else said no one wants to be that stereotype. 

[SychosSoChic 9,995]

Thank the Gay God of Fertility for condoms and birth control :pray: