Teen birth rates highest in most religious states

[IDemo]

Link may be due to communities frowning on contraception, researchers say

By Jeanna Bryner
updated 2 hours, 20 minutes ago

U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.

The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise.

Mississippi topped the list for conservative religious beliefs and teen birth rates, according to the study results, which will be detailed in a forthcoming issue of the journal Reproductive Health. (See chart below.)

However, the results don't say anything about cause and effect, though study researcher Joseph Strayhorn of Drexel University College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh offers a speculation of the most probable explanation: "We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32884806/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

[abelenkpe2]

1. I wonder

how this corresponds to cases of child abuse, neglect and homicide. Seems like so many cases of abuse are from parents unprepared to raise a child.

[mdavies013]

2. My daughter just brought home the abstinence workbook>>>

so my wife and daughter had a real discussion about sex and consequences. It was tough...but necessary.

[padumdang]

3. They have the highest rates of divorce as well.

And of meth labs and users.

[Walk away]

4. Darn! I guess those creepy Father/Daughter Abstinence Balls...

just aren't working.



Or maybe they're working too well.....Yuck!

[mindwalker_i]

9. Just that term, "abstinence balls"

makes me think of moss-covered teabaggers.

[8 track mind]

12. Duzy!!!!!!! n/t

[8 track mind]

11. ok thats just whack........ n/t

[Jkid]

15. Why can't we have Mother/Son Abstinence Balls too?

n/t

[L0oniX]

5. More stupid than smart people are being born every day.

A kid has to really strive to achieve smarts in spite of having dumb parents where as smart parents can assist their kids to become smarter.

[paulsby]

6. i'd like to know how ma ny were in vs.out of wedlock,desired vs. undesired

a married 19 yr old with a planned (or desired) birth is obviously different than an unmarried 19 yr old who got pregnant by accident.

but this just lumps it in and assumes a teen pregnancy is "bad " or unwanted

it seems reasonable to assume more religious areas tend to marry younger and have kids younger by design

[Odin2005]

7. Anyone that thinks they can keep horny teens from fucking is a moron.

"No sex before marriage" made sense when people got married when they were 16 and contraception wasn't widely available, it doesn't anymore.

[customerserviceguy]

8. Caribou Barbie already showed the nation

how "abstinence only" education really works!

May Bristol's experience make this study's figures the high water mark for such stupidity.

[BolivarianHero]

10. The Jonas Brothers...

Famous because fundamentalists are too stupid to get Hanson.

[Arkana]

13. Shock. Awe. Amazement.

Massachusetts has legal gay marriage, and yet we have the lowest divorce rate in the nation.

[XemaSab]

14. I would guess that being rural has a lot to do with it

Tweeking, fucking, and going to church are really the only entertainment in town. :shrug:

[Jkid]

16. High School Virginity Paradox

Church and conservative morality says no sex before marriage, yet high school culture dictates that if you don't lose your virginity while at high school, you'll be percived as gay male or a female lesbian.

It's amazing that they conservative church folk just don't get it.

[starroute]

17. Poverty is the explanation that occurs to me

The poorest states tend to be the most religious -- it's that clinging to gods and guns thing.

In the poorest states, teenagers have less in the way of future prospects. So they have no reason to avoid getting pregnant for the sake of their education and career. And they may have good reasons to at least subconsciously want to get pregnant and achieve a little more self-esteem through motherhood.

I may not be correct -- but I'm surprised that the possibility isn't even getting mentioned. More of that "we have no class warfare in the United States" thing, I guess.