The Costs and

Consequences of
Teen Childbearing
Katy Suellentrop
August 17, 2010
Still Work to Do
• Three in ten girls get pregnant once before
they turn 20

• One-quarter of teen parents have a second

child before they turn 20

• Disparities (over 50% of Latinas and African

Americans)

• Higher teen pregnancy and birth rates than

comparable countries
Consequences for Children
• Compared to children born to older mothers (20-21
years old), children born to teen moms are more likely
to:
– drop out of high school.
– become teen parents.
– use Medicaid and CHIP.
– experience abuse/neglect.
– enter the foster care system.
– end up in prison (sons).
– be raised in single parent families.

Source: Hoffman, S.D., (2006) By the Numbers: The Public Costs of Adolescent Childbearing.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy: Washington, DC.
Consequences for Children
• Lower scores on measures of kindergarten
readiness
• Lower vocabulary, math, and reading scores
• Greater risk of being born at low birth weight

Source: Terry-Humen, E., Manlove, J., and Moore, KA., (2005). Playing Catch-Up: How Children Born to Teen
Mothers Fare, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy: Washington, DC
Connection with Poverty
• A child born to a teen mother who has not finished
high school and is not married is nine times more
likely to be poor than a child born to an adult who
has finished high school and is married.

• What if the national teen birth rate had not declined

30% between 1991 and 2002? In 2002, 460,000
more young children would have been living in
poverty.

Source: Analysis of U.S. Congress, Ways and Means Committee-Democrats (2004). Steep Decline in Teen Birth Rate
Significantly Responsible for Reducing Child Poverty and Single-Parent Families. (Issue Brief, April 23, 2004). Washington, DC.
Consequences for Education
• Overall 34% of women who
have a birth as a teen do not
Diploma/GED Attainment
attain a diploma or GED by
Among Teen Mothers Before
age 22 compared to 6% of
Age 22, By Age of Birth
women who do not have a teen
birth 100%

Percent of Teens
80% 27%
43%
• This bar chart shows the 13%
percent of teen mothers who 60%
19%
attain a diploma or GED by 40% Neither
60%
age 22, depending on their age 20% 38% GED
at the birth of this child; 43% 0% Diploma
of teens who gave birth before Birth Birth At
age 18 had neither compared to Before Age 18-19
27% of teens who gave birth at Age 18
age 18 or 19 Age at Birth
Source: Perper, K., Peterson, K., & Manlove, J., Diploma Attachment Among
Teen Mothers, 2010. Child Trends, Fact Sheet: Washington, DC.
Retrieved March, 2010 from
http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-
2010_01_22_FS_DiplomaAttainment.pdf
Connection with Child Welfare
• Almost one-half of girls in foster care become
pregnant by age 19.
• Compared to mothers age 20-21, young teen mothers
were 2.2 times more likely have a child placed in
foster care during the first 5 years after a birth.
• Delaying age of birth from 17 or earlier to age 20-21
would reduce the overall foster care placement rate
by 8% percent.

Source: Hoffman, S.D., (2006) By the Numbers: The Public Costs of Adolescent Childbearing.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy: Washington, DC.
Public Sector Costs
Methods
• National data from Kids Having Kids
(Maynard 1996) and Kids Having Kids:
Revised Edition (Maynard and Hoffman)
• Measure costs over the first 15 years following
a birth – assume a steady state analysis
• Annual costs incurred in 2004
Methods (cont.)
• State costs are derived from national costs
• Account for the state’s share of teen births, the
per client cost (relative to the national
average), and utilization rates (relative to the
national average)
• State specific income and sales tax structure
National Costs
Most of the costs of teen childbearing are associated
with negative consequences for the children of teen
mothers and include:
– $1.9 billion for increased public health care costs
– $2.3 billion for increased child welfare costs
– $2.1 billion for increased costs for state prison systems
(among adult sons of teen mothers)
– $2.9 billion in lost tax revenue due to lower taxes paid
by the children of teen mothers over their own adult
lifetimes.
Source: Hoffman, S.D., (2006) By the Numbers: The Public Costs of Adolescent Childbearing.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy: Washington, DC.
National Savings

• The one-third decline in the nation’s teen birth rate

between 1991 and 2004 resulted in saving taxpayers an
estimated $6.7 billion in 2004 alone.
State Specific Costs
• Average cost associated with a child born to a
teen mother ranges from $7,836 in Vermont to
$2,997 in Texas.
• Cost savings in 2004 range from $5 million in
Wyoming to $1.1 Billion in CA.
• More detailed information available in the
report and at
http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/costs
Challenges and Limitations
• How to attribute poorer Distribution of Teens by Family
outcomes – circumstances Income (at Age 12-19, Before the
before or after the birth Birth) for Teens With/Without a
Child as a Percent of Poverty
• The bar chart shows the
100%
distribution of teens by

Percent of Teens
family income as a percent 80% 41%
61% >=200%
of poverty for teens who 60% Poverty
had a teen birth and those 31%
40% 100-199%
who didn’t; 28% of teens Poverty
23%
who had a birth as a teen 20%
28% <100%
were living at <100% of 16%
0% Poverty
the federal poverty Teens Who Ever Had
a Teen Birth
All Teens

threshold compared to Teens

16% of all teens
“Reduction of early parenthood will not
eliminate the powerful effects of growing up in
poverty and disadvantage. But it represents a
potentially productive strategy for widening
the pathways out of poverty, or at the very
least, not compounding the handicaps imposed
by social disadvantage.”

Source: Hoffman, S.D., (1998) Teenage Childbearing Is Not So Bad After All…Or Is It? A Review of the Literature.
Family Planning Perspectives, 30(5): 236-239;243.
What can be Done
• Invest in evidence-based programs
• Intensify efforts with vulnerable
youth/populations with high rates.

• Enlist parents, media, faith community,

business, judges, and others to help.
Thank-you!
For more information:
Visit our website:
http://www.TheNationalCampaign.org
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