Yay, Texas! We're No. 1!
drivingrl
Posts: 1,448
... In teen birthrates.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072607dntexteenbirthrate.ac717295.html
Study: Texas leads nation in teen birth rate 7:50 AM CT
07:52 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Associated Press
HOUSTON - Texas had the nation's highest birth rate among teenagers ages 15 to 19 in 2004, according to a newly released study of children's health.
The Kids Count study, which is updated annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, said the Texas rate of 63 births per 1,000 teens remained the same from 2003 to 2004.
Texas tied New Mexico and Mississippi for the top spot in 2003, but both of those states saw their rates decline in 2004. The average rate nationally was 41 births per 1,000 teens in 2004.
Texas mirrored the rest of the nation in reporting a steep decline in teen births since at least 1990.
"Texas has been showing improvement, but other states are showing more improvement," said Frances Deviney, director of Texas Kids Count and a senior research associate for the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.
According to the study, Hispanic teens are more than 31/2 times as likely as Anglos to have a baby. Blacks are more than twice as likely as their white peers to give birth.
Observers were divided on whether Texas' emphasis on abstinence in sex education contributes to the state's relatively high numbers. A 1995 law requires school districts to emphasize abstinence in sex education classes.
"It's a touchy subject," said Robert Sanborn, president of Children at Risk. "We can preach abstinence quite a bit, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't affect some kids, and apparently it's really not working in Texas."
Don McLeroy, president of the State Board of Education, noted that sex education is mainly a local issue, with state law requiring each district to have a local committee that decides what will be taught.
"The idea that just giving them a lot of information is going to solve it, I think, is kind of naive," he said. "Certainly, it's more of a societal problem than it is a school problem."
Christine Markham, an assistant professor for health promotion and behavioral science at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, said her studies of sexually active middle schoolers showed that educators need to provide information to students about sexual health and development before they reach high school.
"A lot of parents want to talk to their child about sex and dating, but they don't know how to start the conversation," she said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072607dntexteenbirthrate.ac717295.html
Study: Texas leads nation in teen birth rate 7:50 AM CT
07:52 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Associated Press
HOUSTON - Texas had the nation's highest birth rate among teenagers ages 15 to 19 in 2004, according to a newly released study of children's health.
The Kids Count study, which is updated annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, said the Texas rate of 63 births per 1,000 teens remained the same from 2003 to 2004.
Texas tied New Mexico and Mississippi for the top spot in 2003, but both of those states saw their rates decline in 2004. The average rate nationally was 41 births per 1,000 teens in 2004.
Texas mirrored the rest of the nation in reporting a steep decline in teen births since at least 1990.
"Texas has been showing improvement, but other states are showing more improvement," said Frances Deviney, director of Texas Kids Count and a senior research associate for the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.
According to the study, Hispanic teens are more than 31/2 times as likely as Anglos to have a baby. Blacks are more than twice as likely as their white peers to give birth.
Observers were divided on whether Texas' emphasis on abstinence in sex education contributes to the state's relatively high numbers. A 1995 law requires school districts to emphasize abstinence in sex education classes.
"It's a touchy subject," said Robert Sanborn, president of Children at Risk. "We can preach abstinence quite a bit, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't affect some kids, and apparently it's really not working in Texas."
Don McLeroy, president of the State Board of Education, noted that sex education is mainly a local issue, with state law requiring each district to have a local committee that decides what will be taught.
"The idea that just giving them a lot of information is going to solve it, I think, is kind of naive," he said. "Certainly, it's more of a societal problem than it is a school problem."
Christine Markham, an assistant professor for health promotion and behavioral science at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, said her studies of sexually active middle schoolers showed that educators need to provide information to students about sexual health and development before they reach high school.
"A lot of parents want to talk to their child about sex and dating, but they don't know how to start the conversation," she said.
drivingrl: "Will I ever get to meet Gwen Stefani?"
kevinbeetle: "Yes. When her career washes up and her and Gavin move to Galveston, you will meet her at Hot Topic shopping for a Japanese cheerleader outfit.
Next!"
kevinbeetle: "Yes. When her career washes up and her and Gavin move to Galveston, you will meet her at Hot Topic shopping for a Japanese cheerleader outfit.
Next!"
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
It is like the people who play with handguns! You comment on the real problem and people don't want to hear about it. When your parents are afraid to or don't talk about where you came from in a grown up manner, what do you expect to happen.
Racist!!!!
Pointing out the racial element only confuses people and causes them to think that there are differences between races.
Heh
-Enoch Powell
I know you are teasing here, but someone would be bound to interpret my thoughts as racist.....
Is the problem really with Texas or is the problem actually with black and hispanic females in general?
I'm sure you would find similar statistics if you looked across the entire country. The state's high teen pregnancy rate might not be a result of its Abstinence-Only programs.
Perhaps Texas has an inordinately high number of hispanic young women and that tips the scales?
-Enoch Powell
i think there are serious problems in the black community there. i see it in my job a lot. was unaware of hispanics struggling so much too, but it's honestly not surprising. it's heavily catholic and we all know how realistic the church is about abstinence and contraception :rolleyes:
maybe someday we can give birth control out with public aid. i also don't know why they arent having sex ed in 6th grade. say what you will about them being too young... they're getting pregnant at 13.
It's the poverty.
no, the problem is with their men. the ones who 1) pressure and use date rape, 2) refuse to father the kids, 3) won't wear condoms.
Complete crap. I suppose you can prove that white American Catholics also have the teenage pregnancy rates that hispanic American Catholics have?
You don't and there is no causality.
The issue is not the church. The issue is socialization and culture.
China isn't Catholic or religious at all and they have a booming population. They need to abort their children to maintain a safe environment.
People will do what they want, regardless of the church telling them not to wear a condom.
-Enoch Powell
i have numerous of hispanic unmarried friends who are single mothers. it's like a pattern... and all of these friends of mine aren't even catholics.
And also with the women who won't use BC right? No? They're not at fault?
-Enoch Powell
And I am Catholic. At least raised so.
did i say it was the church? i said it was the hispanic culture, which happens to be heavily influenced by a very strict and old-fashoined catholicism. why dyou think 9 out of 10 sightings of mary statues crying blood are in latin america? it's a very different style of catholicism to what you think you know here. and i've little doubt it plays a role. to their credit though, controversial as nixon's comments were, they do seem to do a much better job of stepping up to the plate and keeping families together.
He's referring to the Church's opposition on contraception.
For these young hispanic moms, it comes down to one thing: sex is better without rubbers!
It's got nothing to do with a distant, aloof Catholic Church in Rome telling you not to use protection. That idea never even crosses their minds.
-Enoch Powell
Keywords: "At Least"
-Enoch Powell
So do they move in with their boyfriends or do they live at their parent's place? The last thing I would have wanted when I was fourteen would have been to be a father. I can't imagine a child wanting a child and the culture not being able to see how hard it is to pull it off.
a birth control prescription that has to be paid for every month regardless of activity is a helluva lot harder for poor young women to manage than it is for a guy to carry a condom. which is why i think birth control should be mandatory AND free for women receiving public aid for children. we'll help you out if you made a mistake, but if you can't provide for the kids you have, you don't have any more.
I would be okay with that.
If they want any more help from the government then they have to get on BC. Otherwise they can have as many kids as they want without government help.
-Enoch Powell
i dont doubt they're willing to help, but the official church line is no contraception. personally, i think it has far, far less to do with race than it has to do with income. the poor have less options, resources, and education. from everything i've heard, if you separate by that it is WAY more meaningful than racial distinctions. poor whites vs. rich whites being almost identical to poor blacks vs. rich blacks and whatnot. it just so happens poverty is far more prevalent among minorities, so it LOOKS like a racial issue.
You can say that sex is better without rubbers - then what about the pill?
yeah, you're not a racist as all... you just have an amazing ability to know the inner thoughts of all hispanic women. do you even know any young single hispanic moms? did they tell you personally they got pregnant becos they refuse to wear condoms?
Sometimes cultures adopt certain ways of behaving that cause people within that culture to be in poverty. It's not because they're black, but because they're black people who live in a community that doesn't support education, families, or abstinence.
-Enoch Powell
I made an assumption based on prior experience...guess you've never had sex...:D
-Enoch Powell