The birth rate for unmarried teens is high, although it declined in the 1990s. (See Figure 7.1.) Between 1991 and 2002 the birth rate for fifteen to seventeen year olds fell by about a third (from over thirty births per 1,000 unmarried women to just over twenty).
TABLE 7.12
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)—Percent distribution of TANF families receiving assistance, October 2000–September 2001
| Type of assistance | ||||||||
| Food stamps | Subsidized housing | Subsidized child care | ||||||
| State | Total families | Medical assistance | Percent | Monthly average | Public housing | Rent subsidy | Federal | State/local |
| U.S. Total | 2,120,474 | 98.9 | 80.9 | $227.70 | 7.2 | 12.8 | 6.9 | 1.9 |
| Alabama | 18,368 | 95.0 | 74.5 | 257.89 | 13.6 | 5.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Alaska | 5,818 | 98.0 | 72.7 | 275.33 | 3.0 | 13.3 | 15.5 | 0.0 |
| Arizona | 33,478 | 94.2 | 75.6 | 250.43 | 4.7 | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 |
| Arkansas | 11,625 | 98.8 | 78.4 | 279.08 | 4.7 | 7.4 | 1.4 | 0.9 |
| California | 473,616 | 100.0 | 85.3 | 199.55 | 3.1 | 13.2 | 3.5 | 0.2 |
| Colorado | 10,640 | 93.3 | 68.9 | 242.89 | 20.0 | 8.9 | 15.5 | 0.0 |
| Connecticut | 25,650 | 100.0 | 75.9 | 201.03 | 1.1 | 32.9 | 0.0 | 8.3 |
| Delaware | 5,448 | 100.0 | 66.1 | 210.39 | 14.4 | 0.0 | 19.2 | 9.3 |
| Dist. of Col. | 16,337 | 99.2 | 79.0 | 254.81 | 24.6 | 8.4 | 6.5 | 1.6 |
| Florida | 58,850 | 100.0 | 64.1 | 219.91 | 7.9 | 10.4 | 8.2 | 0.0 |
| Gerogia | 50,636 | 96.5 | 71.8 | 229.23 | 11.7 | 6.0 | — | — |
| Guam1 | 2,806 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hawaii | 12,852 | 100.0 | 85.3 | 372.55 | 3.8 | 13.9 | 13.9 | 0.5 |
| Idaho | 1,291 | 96.1 | 43.3 | 197.01 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 10.1 | 0.0 |
| Illinois | 62,031 | 99.7 | 77.8 | 277.25 | — | — | 0.0 | 18.7 |
| Indiana | 41,186 | 99.5 | 89.2 | 250.17 | 10.4 | 13.0 | 15.2 | 0.0 |
| Iowa | 20,152 | 66.9 | 71.7 | 209.90 | — | — | 10.5 | 0.0 |
| Kansas | 13,024 | 100.0 | 78.7 | 242.42 | 5.6 | 12.2 | 9.6 | 0.0 |
| Kentucky | 36,127 | 99.4 | 76.1 | 199.27 | 2.1 | 10.6 | 4.3 | 0.0 |
| Louisania | 25,176 | 100.0 | 86.8 | 254.68 | 8.1 | 5.8 | 9.4 | 0.0 |
| Maine | 9,663 | 100.0 | 89.2 | 210.49 | 3.0 | 6.6 | 10.2 | 0.0 |
| Maryland | 27,957 | 100.0 | 70.1 | 237.86 | 9.5 | 15.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Massachusetts | 42,368 | 100.0 | 77.9 | 163.74 | 13.5 | 33.0 | 4.6 | 3.8 |
| Michigan | 71,746 | 97.1 | 79.5 | 221.36 | 0.0 | 9.6 | 14.7 | 0.0 |
| Minnesota | 38,558 | 99.2 | 99.4 | 264.20 | 0.0 | 26.1 | 9.4 | 0.0 |
| Mississippi | 15,658 | 100.0 | 82.1 | 195.02 | 4.5 | 6.7 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Missouri | 45,557 | 100.0 | 71.2 | 248.82 | 7.8 | 14.5 | 14.9 | 0.0 |
| Montana | 5,002 | 100.0 | 85.0 | 240.30 | 3.3 | 31.4 | 10.7 | 0.0 |
| Nebraska | 9,487 | 100.0 | 73.6 | 243.15 | 2.6 | 0.0 | 17.8 | 0.0 |
| Nevada | 7,439 | 99.9 | 50.8 | 275.27 | 0.1 | 23.6 | 7.5 | 0.1 |
| New Hampshire | 5,659 | 100.0 | 70.5 | 220.74 | 3.9 | 0.0 | 13.1 | 0.0 |
| New Jersey | 45,320 | 97.3 | 76.2 | 239.02 | 6.8 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 0.0 |
| New Mexico | 19,323 | 100.0 | 93.0 | 245.27 | 24.3 | 0.0 | 9.6 | 0.0 |
| New York | 226,390 | 100.0 | 87.6 | 229.52 | 12.9 | 14.0 | 2.8 | 0.0 |
| North Carolina | 42,555 | 100.0 | 2 | 2 | 13.5 | 9.0 | 6.8 | 2.5 |
| North Dekota | 2,991 | 99.6 | 82.6 | 241.54 | 7.7 | 41.9 | 24.5 | 0.0 |
| Ohio | 85,005 | 99.8 | 70.5 | 202.25 | 3.7 | 9.3 | 8.1 | 0.0 |
| Oklahoma | 14,473 | 100.0 | 66.3 | 271.19 | 0.0 | 24.7 | 26.4 | 0.0 |
| Oregon | 15,868 | 99.6 | 69.9 | 233.73 | 9.1 | 14.8 | 11.8 | 0.0 |
| Pennsylvania | 81,600 | 100.0 | 79.5 | 260.66 | 9.9 | 11.8 | 8.6 | 0.0 |
| Puerto Rico | 26,213 | 93.4 | 97.4 | 259.81 | 23.1 | 13.1 | 0.5 | 15.5 |
| Rhode Island | 15,227 | 100.0 | 92.5 | 106.32 | 12.0 | 18.1 | 2.1 | 11.8 |
| South Carolina | 16,939 | 100.0 | 80.5 | 240.64 | 12.4 | 12.3 | 10.7 | 0.0 |
| South Dakota | 2,714 | 100.0 | 68.6 | 222.04 | 35.8 | 0.0 | 7.3 | 0.0 |
| Tennessee | 59,541 | 100.0 | 84.0 | 250.32 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 22.7 |
| Texas | 131,997 | 100.0 | 87.0 | 258.74 | 11.8 | 13.8 | 10.7 | 0.4 |
| Utah | 7,488 | 100.0 | 76.7 | 251.49 | — | — | 15.7 | 0.0 |
| Vermont | 5,523 | 100.0 | 87.8 | 220.83 | 0.4 | 28.5 | 19.0 | 0.2 |
| Virgin Islands | 738 | 98.8 | 89.6 | 465.27 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.8 | 0.0 |
| Virgina | 29,271 | 100.0 | 66.0 | 239.81 | — | — | 6.6 | 0.0 |
| Washington | 54,161 | 99.7 | 81.0 | 225.08 | 0.0 | 20.5 | 21.0 | 0.0 |
| West Virgina | 14,732 | 99.1 | 86.2 | 226.90 | 9.8 | 12.5 | 3.7 | 0.4 |
| Wisconsin | 17,680 | 71.4 | 53.3 | 189.95 | 1.3 | 3.9 | 12.1 | 0.0 |
| Wyoming | 520 | 98.1 | 64.7 | 233.68 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 1Data not reported. | ||||||||
| 2Data reported but not reliable. | ||||||||
| —Data not available. | ||||||||
| SOURCE: "Table 10:13. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families—Active Cases: Percent Distribution of TANF Families Receiving Assistance, October 2000–September 2001," in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) Fifth Annual Report to Congress, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, February 2003 [Online] http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/ofa/annualreport5/ [accessed January 11, 2004] | ||||||||
Births to teenagers represent a concern to society because teen mothers tend to have less education and less ability to support and care for their children. In addition, according to Maynard, in Kids Having Kids, babies born to teen mothers are:
- More likely to be born prematurely and to be of low birth weight.
- At risk for health problems, lower cognitive skills, and behavioral problems.
- Less likely to grow up in homes with their fathers, possibly causing emotional as well as financial problems.
- At greater risk to be abused.
According to "Kids Having Kids," a report published in 1996 by the Robin Hood Foundation in New York City, teen parents under age seventeen cost the United States close to $7 billion per year in direct costs such as public assistance, health care, and foster care, and indirect costs such as loss of tax revenues. These negative consequences motivated Congress to include provisions in the welfare-reform legislation to encourage the reduction of the incidence of births to unmarried women, with emphasis on teenagers.
To receive TANF benefits, states were required to submit plans detailing their efforts to reduce out-of-wedlock births, especially among teenagers. In order to be eligible for TANF benefits, unmarried minor parents are required to remain in high school or its equivalent as well as to live in an adult-supervised setting. One provision in the law allows for the creation of second-chance homes for teen parents and their children, a type of home that already existed in some states. These homes require that all residents either enroll in school or participate in a job-training program. They also provide parenting and life skills classes as well as counseling and support services.
A performance bonus that is separate from the TANF block grant rewards states for reductions in births outside of marriage combined with a decline in the abortion rate. Grant money is also available for states to implement abstinence-only education programs. In addition, the welfare-reform law directs the Department of Health and Human Services to provide a strategy to prevent unmarried teen pregnancies and to ensure that 25 percent of the communities
FIGURE 7.1
Birth rates for unmarried women, by age of mother, 1980–2002
in the United States implement a teen pregnancy prevention program. These measures supplement already-existing federal and state efforts. Five states were awarded bonuses of $100 million in 1999 and 2000, and three states were awarded a total of $75 million in 2001 for successfully reducing the percentage of out-of-wedlock births.
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