Adolescent Pregnancy Revisited

Abstract

Trends in Births to AdolescentsFalling birthrates in the United States bring joy to the Malthusians and supporters of zero population growth, and fear to the administrators of the Social Security Trust Fund, to hospitals with underpopulated maternity wards and to schools and colleges facing certain reduced enrollment. In Massachusetts, the number of births fell off from 97,513 in 1966¹ to 65,947 a decade later² — a decline of 32.4 per cent. Births to Massachusetts teen-agers, however, have declined more slowly — from 9922 in 1966 to 7991 in 1976, a reduction of 18.4 per cent.^{1 , 2} These changes in Massachusetts . . .