NEW MEXICO TEEN PREGNANCY COALITION

U.S. Teen Birth Rates Still on the Decline

According to the latest Facts at a Glance, from Child Trends, Inc., preliminary data for 1996 indicate that the decline in the U.S. teen birth rate has continued for a fifth year. However, at 54.7 births per 1,000 females age 15-19, the teen birth rate has not yet declined to the level of the mid 1980's (50.2); and declines in some states are quite small. One state Vermont - has achieved a teen birth rate of 29 per 1,000 females age 15-19. Following closely are New Hampshire at 31 and Minnesota at 32.

New Mexico did not begin to experience a decline in teen birth rates until 1994. In 1993, New Mexico had 81.9 births per 1,000 girls age 15-19; by 1996, that rate had declined to 75.1.

This declining birth rate is not driven by the use of abortion; rather, a decline in pregnancy seems to be occurring, reflecting both a slight decline in sexual activity among teens and a notable increase in the use of contraception, particularly condoms, among teens.

Trends vary by race and ethnicity. Nationally, the decline in birth rates has been largest among black teens, although this population's birth rate is still substantially higher than white teens. The birth rate among Hispanic teens has remained essentially unchanged since 1991; however, Hispanic birth rates are substantially higher than white teens. Hispanic rates are now notably higher than black teens as well. Of New Mexico's births to teens in 1995, 10.8 % were to whites, 19.1% were to Indians, 21.1 % to Blacks, and 22. 1 % to Hispanic teens (6.5% to other).

The actual number of births to U.S. teens decreased slightly between 1994 and 1996, even though the number of teenagers increased. In 1995 there were 512,115 births to teens under age 20; in 1996 that number dropped to 505,513. In 1996, New Mexico had 4,845 births to females under age 20, down from 4,950 in 1995.

Declines in the U.S. teen birth rate are a result of decreases in both the rate of first and repeat births. In 1996, 22% of all births to 15-19 year olds were repeat births. This percentage has decreased since 1990-92, when 25% of all teen births were second pregnancies or higher. Analysis among high school age mothers in the National Education Longitudinal Study show that involvement in school activities after the birth of the first child, or receipt of a high school diploma or a GED, were strongly associated with postponing a second teen birth.

A recent Child Trends review of the factors associated with teen parenthood identified four types of risk factors: early school failure, early behavior problems, family dysfunction, and poverty. The number of risk factors present in eighth grade was associated with the likelihood of having a baby during the teen years. Females who experienced none of these factors had the lowest probability of having a birth. Each additional factor was related to a higher likelihood of a teen birth.

New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition Board of Directors
1997-1998

President John Stermer, Las Cruces
Northern Vice President Karen Ford, Estancia
Southern Vice President Chris Jameson, Las Cruces
Secretary Kristin Sharp, Tierra Amarilla
Treasurer Naomi Kistin, Albuquerque
Past President Mary Raje, San Fidel

Board of Directors
Angelina Baca, Corrales
David Breault, Albuquerque
Nicole Byrd, Albuquerque
Marc Davidson, Albuquerque
LaNell Lindsey Leatherwood, Clovis
Tim Lopez ,Albuquerque
Alicia Moreno, Bayard
Robert Pacheco, Albuquerque
Mary Potter, Clovis
Marva Randolph, Laguna, Acoma, Canyoncito
Carol Sullivan, Socorro

Executive Director
Laine Renfro Sedillo

Newsletter Editor
Linda Phillips Lehrer

Many people blame young people for being sexually irresponsible - but let's take a closer look at this situation.

Many destructive adult behaviors are closely linked to teen pregnancy ... It is adults who commercialize the preteen body image, don't present realistic or accurate depictions of the sexual consequences, and provide few models for healthy relationships ... A great deal of teen pregnancy is the result of adult males having sex with young girls, yet we blame young girls for cultural ills only adults can cure ... The strongest predictors for, teen pregnancy are poverty, school failure, and dysfunctional families. Who is responsible for these situations? Are we expecting young people to overcome these kinds of obstacles by themselves? ... Another strong predictor of teen pregnancy is sexual abuse, most of which happened when the girl was very young ... Teen mothers haven't set the pattern for births outside marriage, they have mirrored adult behaviors ... It is adults who fight over what kind of sexuality education should be available (abstinence-only vs. abstinence-based). Meanwhile, as the adults argue, the kids are falling through the cracks ... Only adults have the ability to control access to contraceptive services... Adults hold the purse strings that make possible the programs that provide healthy alternatives to risky behaviors kids can't open up their own youth centers or start their own recreation programs!... Adults often do not model the responsible sexual behavior that we expect of our youth ... Young people can't believe in a real future for themselves unless adults are willing to be partners in making that future a reality. It is difficult for children with few resources to create their own opportunity ... We control the money ... We have the votes ... We have the power to change things.

Linda Phillips Lehrer, Editor
 

Solutions to teen pregnancy prevention,"need to be driven less by what we want to work and more by what we've found to work."

-Researcher, Robert Blum

Dear Readers,

As a school counselor, I am greatly concerned about child abuse, especially child sexual abuse. We know there is a strong connection between abuse and teen pregnancy (as well as a host of other problem behaviors). We also know that child abuse is a common result of teen pregnancy. It appears to be a vicious and destructive circle.

Traditionally, our approach to teen pregnancy has been to work with girls who are already pregnant. Without minimizing the importance of treatment, more needs to be done on theprevention side. We need to deal with females and males throughout their social and school experience. It is critical that teens have positive adult role models to look up to, respect, and trust - these are essential components of serious prevention. Contact with adults who provide positive role models will help set the example. All students need to feel empowered and to know that they have some control and some say in the direction of their life. Collaboration between adults and youth will encourage involvement and enlighten everyone. Young people need to be part of a group that has hope and can see a real future for them.

Teen pregnancy is an area that requires constant scrutiny so that we may better understand its connection to other issues, like child abuse. We must reemphasize the need for greater attention, study and action. Personnel in social services and education, especially elementary school, need greater awareness and training to identify the symptoms of child abuse. They also need to know about effective interventions for the child who is already abused; this is an opportunity to offer primary teen pregnancy prevention.

The New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition (NMTPC) can assist you. We are the statewide organization dedicated to reducing teen pregnancy and its negative consequences. We understand the issues and have the latest national and state information. Our small, but committed staff, including our outstanding executive director Laine Renfro Sedillo - are available to help you. The NMTPC Board of Directors represent the diversity of our state; they represent YOU, and I encourage you to get to know them. They are a valuable resource. You will find a Board list on page 2. Additionally, the NMTPC has a Resource Committee that provides much-needed support and guidance to our organization. This group is responsible for our very successful "Roundtable Discussions" on various topics.

As you work with our young people and tackle the tough challenges facing all of us, please think of NMTPC and let us know how we can assist you. Together we can influence our youth, set a good example, and contribute to their growth and development into healthy, talented, and appreciated individuals.

Sincerely,

John Stermer, President

Teen Pregnancy Rankings:                                            Teen Birth Rankings:

# 1 California                                                                      # 1 Mississippi
#2 Nevada                                                                         #2 Arizona/Texas
#3 Hawaii                                                                         #3 New Mexico
#  Arizona                                                                           #4 Arkansas
#5 New Mexico                                                                 #5 Nevada

#48 Minnesota                                                                     #48 Minnesota
#49 New Hampshire                                                             #49 New Hampshire
#50 North Dakota                                                                 #50 Vermont

Guttmacher Institute, 1992 -Child Trends, Inc., 1995 data

Snapshots From the Front Line

The staff and officials of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy visited eight states last year in order to learn from state and local experts and to catalyze and support community efforts. Although New Mexico has not yet been visited by the Campaign, much of what they learned is also relevant to our state.

As stated in their booklet, Snapshots from the Front Line, these are the ten lessons about teen pregnancy prevention that the Campaign learned.

1. We must strengthen the consensus nationwide that adolescence is a time for education and growing up, not pregnancy and     ildbearing.
2. Real differences in values among adults can impede action to prevent teen pregnancy.
3. Many communities are moving away from brief, one-dimensional prevention programs in favor of adopting                  prevention strategies that have many components.
4. Many local groups working to reduce teen pregnancy seek the meaningful involvement of young people in program planning and development.
5. Involving powerful state and local leaders can make a real difference.
6. Involving boys and men in prevention efforts is critical. In the past two years, new initiatives have surfaced around the country to focus prevention efforts on adolescent boys that involve adult men as leaders and role models.
7. Caring and focused attention from adults - as parents, friends, mentors, and leaders - can have a transforming effect on teens.
8. States are seeking to harness the power of the media to reduce teen pregnancy, often through public service announcements.
9. It is easy to start a coalition to prevent teen pregnancy; the challenge is to sustain it.
10. State and local leaders are eager to know "what works" in teen pregnancy prevention.

Single copies of Snapshots from the Front Line are available free. Request this booklet and a list of other informative publication from The National Campaign, 2100 M Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20037

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen pregnancy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative supported entirely by private donations. The Campaign's mission is to prevent teen pregnancy by supporting values and stimulating actions that are consistent with a pregnancy-free adolescence. The Campaign's goal is to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by one-third by the year 2005.

The Campaign's strategy has five primary components: taking a strong stand against teen pregnancy and attracting new and powerful voices to this issue; enlisting the help of the media; supporting and stimulating state and local action; leading national discussion about the role of religion, culture, and public values in an effort to build common ground, and making sure that everyone's efforts are based on the best facts and research.

Despite the good news of the slight decline in teen birth rates over the past few years, the rates of teen pregnancy and teen births in the United States remain far higher than those in any other industrialized nation. The costs of today's teen pregnancies will be borne most heavily by tomorrow's children, who will grow up in circumstances with less than they deserve and with less than they need to become responsible, competent adults.

Much concern has been voiced about this nation's lagging rate of economic growth and widening income disparities. But too little attention has been paid to the way in which children's very early family environments affect both trends or to the difficulties and expense of helping children overcome early disadvantages. In 1990, 45% of all first births in the United States were to mothers who were either teenagers, unwed, or lacking a high school degree. The high proportion of children starting out their lives in such circumstances has strong implications for the nation's future competitiveness and social cohesiveness. Until more is done to ensure that as many children as possible begin life with parents who are ready to nurture and care for them, progress on these other fronts will be difficult at best - perhaps impossible.

The National Campaign challenges all who are worried about these larger economic and social issues to join with us in finding and evaluating effective strategies to prevent teen pregnancy, to strengthen families in the process, and thereby to provide a better life for all our children.

From Whatever Happened to Childhood?, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Gray Matter... the area between holding hands and having intercourse!

As a sexuality education teacher (way back when) and a home economist (now fondly referred to as family and consumer scientists - FACS), I was eager to get back into the classroom after reading the recent article written by a high school senior, Seo Hee Koh from New Jersey. The article, "Teachers: Here's What We Need!", can be found in the Family Life Matters Newsletter from Rutgers University (No. 33, Winter, 998). Ms. Koh states that she has taken 12 years of numerous subjects, but only one semester of sex education (which is more than she would get in New Mexico). She states, "Teens want realistic sex education, but not necessarily restricted to the act of intercourse. What about relationships? What about feelings? Communication about condoms? How can we express our sexuality without having sex? What about pleasure? What about all the gray areas between holding hands and having intercourse?"

She goes further in the article questioning, "Not whether teens are going to have sex, because this surpasses any parental or societal control. What do we need to make sex a safe, dynamic and pleasurable part of our lives, whether it be now, as young adults, or later in life, maybe only after we marry? We need teachers to initiate discussions, to help us identify our own individual values. By reaffirming them in class, we'll know where we stand, even when we're in the proverbial back seat of a car. So when someone asks, why did you do that?, we can say, because I decided it was right for me! Does responsibility mean always carrying a condom and using it during intercourse? Or does it dictate abstinence? Let us determine our own boundaries, but provide us with accurate information to help us make our own decisions."

This articulate young woman goes on the say, "Teachers can provide non-moralizing, unbiased facts and teach us skills we can employ in being sexually responsible. We do not need ditto sheets about body parts, when we might be engaged in meaningful discussion instead of bankrupt pedagogy at a time when ignorance can be fatal."

Her closing words should resonate for all of us, "You may hold the key to our enjoying - and perhaps even surviving our adolescence."

As teachers, counselors, health care providers, and parents - we can listen, learn and lend credence to what teens are telling us. They need more information about the gray matters - those areas between holding hands and having intercourse.

And now for some NMTPC updates ...

The NMTPC Board has made a commitment to solicit teen input into more of our activities and programs.

One initiative is our newly formed Teen Advisory Panel (TAP) - a group of 28 trained teens from around the state. These young people will be utilizing our two photo exhibits, Diary of a Teen Mother and Fathers of the 90's to educate their own communities about the real-life consequences of teen parenting. The TAP members come from the communities of Kirtland, Aztec, Farmington, Bloomfield, Fruitland, Cobre, Bayard, Deming, Hatch, Las Cruces, Polvadera, Carlsbad, Socorro, Crownpoint, San Antonio, Santa Clara, and Hurley. This project is coordinated by Helen Tso at NMTPC and is funded by the McCune Foundation, the Education Foundation of America, and the NM Department of Education/Vocational Education Division.

Also, Desert High Inc. has funded the performance of a skit written and produced by NMTPC young people. The message conveyed has to do with teen pregnancy - the choices and controversy involved. Contact Joby Simpson at NMTPC to schedule this skit for your school/youth group or community organization.

The NMTPC Board of Directors is pleased to announce the creation of our new YOUTH PROJECTS FUND. The initial fund raising event, consisting of a benefit dinner with youth entertainment, took place in connection with our February statewide conference. We will now be dedicating monies raised through our Silent Auctions to this fund. The YOUTH PROJECTS FUND will provide monetary support for youth initiated projects directed toward teen pregnancy prevention. Many thanks to the New Mexico March of Dimes- for funding the first youth project - a video created by teens in Hatch! You'll be hearing more about this video in upcoming newsletters. Please consider making a contribution to this fund so that we may encourage teens to be creative partners in our efforts to reduce teen pregnancy.

Laine Renfro Sedillo,

Executive Director
 
 

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