Although the rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States has declined greatly within the past few years, it is still an enormous problem that needs to be addressed. These rates are still higher than they were a decade ago. The United State's teenage birthrate exceeds that of most other industrialized nations, even though American teenagers are no more sexually active than teenagers are in Canada or Europe (Gormly 348). Recent statistics concerning the teen birthrates are alarming. About 560,000 teenage girls give birth each year. Almost one-sixth of all births in the United States are from teenage women, and eight in ten of these births resulted from unintended pregnancies (Gormly 347). By the age of eighteen, one out of four teenage girls will have become pregnant (Newman 679). .
Although the onset of pregnancy may occur in any teenager, some teens are at higher risk for unplanned pregnancy than others are. Teenagers who become sexually active at an earlier age are at a greater risk primarily because young teenagers are less likely to use birth control. African-American and Hispanic teenagers are twice as likely to give birth as are white teenagers. Whites are more likely to have abortions. Teenagers who come from poor neighborhoods and attend segregated schools are at a high risk for pregnancy as well. Also, teenagers who are doing poorly in school and have few plans for the future are more likely to become parents than those who are doing well and have high educational and occupational expectations. Although the rate of teenage pregnancy is higher among low- income African-Americans and Hispanics, the number of births to teenagers is highest among white, non poor young women who live in small cities and towns (Calhoun 309). .
The questions of which teenagers become pregnant; the interest is shown in the social consequences of early parenthood. Adolescent parents (mostly mothers) may find that they have a "lost or limited opportunity for education" (Johnson 4).