teen birth rates highest in most religious states

[Amby 490]

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 on link)

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."

The study comes with other significant caveats, too:

The same link might not be found for other types of religious beliefs that are perhaps more liberal, researchers say. And while the study reveals information about states as a whole, it doesn't shed light on whether an individual teen who is more religious will also be more likely to have a child.

"You can't talk about individuals, because you don't know what's producing the [teen birth] rate," said Amy Adamczyk, a sociologist at the City University of New York, who was not involved in the current study. "Are there just a couple of really precocious religious teenagers who are running around and getting pregnant and having all of these babies, but that's not the norm?"

Strayhorn agrees and says the study aimed to look at communities (or states) as a whole.

"It is possible that an anti-contraception attitude could be caused by religious cultures and that could exert its effect mainly on the non-religious individuals in the culture," Strayhorn told LiveScience. But, he added, "We don't know."

Bible states

Strayhorn compiled data from various data sets. The religiosity information came from a sample of nearly 36,000 participants who were part of the U.S. Religious Landscapes Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted in 2007, while the teen birth and abortion statistics came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For religiosity, the researchers averaged the percentage of respondents who agreed with conservative responses to eight statements, including: ''There is only one way to interpret the teachings of my religion," and ''Scripture should be taken literally, word for word."

They found a strong correlation between statewide conservative religiousness and statewide teen birth rate even when they accounted for income and abortion rates.

More abortions among teens in less religious states

For instance, the results showed more abortions among teenagers in the less religious states, which would skew the findings since fewer teens in these states would have births. But even after accounting for the abortions, the study team still found a state's level of religiosity could predict their teen birth rate. The higher the religiosity, the higher was the teen birth rate on average.

John Santelli of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University calls the study "well-done," adding that the results are not surprising.

"The index of religiosity is tapping into more fundamentalist religious belief," Santelli said. "I'm sure there are parts of New England that have very low teen birth rates, which have pretty high religious participation, but they're probably less conservative, less fundamentalist type of congregations."

Other factors that may have been important to consider include ethnic backgrounds of state residents, according to Adamczyk, the City University of New York sociologist.

"We know that African American women on average tend to underreport their abortions, which means they could also underreport the likelihood that they got pregnant," Adamczyk said. "If you're dealing with states with a high number of African American women, you might run into that problem."

Adamczyk's own, separate research has shown a nearly opposite correlation, at the individual level. "What we find is that more religious women are less likely to engage in riskier sex behaviors, and as a result they are less likely to have a premarital pregnancy," Adamczyk said during a telephone interview. But for those religious teens who do choose to have premarital sex, they might be more likely to ditch their religious views and have an abortion, she has found.

Cause and effect?

Adamczyk says the idea that anti-contraception principles could be behind the link is controversial, as studies on the topic have varied results. "The idea is that in the heat of the moment, a young woman who has said, 'I'm going to be a virgin on my wedding night,' is with her boyfriend and she says 'Let's just do it.' And since they didn't plan it, nobody has a condom. And so it increases their chances of a pregnancy," Adamczyk said.

Earlier marriage among religious individuals could also partly explain the finding.

"In the south, there is a higher rate of marriage of teenagers. And one possible explanation is just that in the southern states, which are also more religious, people just get married earlier and have planned pregnancies and those have perfectly good outcomes," Strayhorn said. He added that he doesn't think the earlier marriage idea explains the religion-birth link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32884806/ns/he..._and_parenting/

[Danno 1,228]

MSNBC is outdoing themselves here lately with this ghost-story aimed at misleading.

[PlatyPius 5]

I read that article earlier, and have been thinking about it for a while. I think they missed a more obvious reason. It isn't because religious-nut states condemn birth control...they shouldn't be having sex anyway, according to their book 'o laws, right? No, I think it's because the more religious a state is, the more moronic it's residents are. Where are the Bible Belt states? The south. What states have the lowest test scores in schools. Anyone want to guess? Stupid people breed, although they are the least qualified to do so. Everyone knows that the religiosity increases as the IQ decreases. Ergo, dumb teens are getting pregnant have having dumb children. The dumb children become religious fanatics and have more dumb children. At some point, the south will become a black hole and we won't have to worry about it any longer, except for it sucking even more than now.

There ya go. Have fun with that one.

[Jenn! 918]

The last two posts make such convincing points, I can't decide which is really true!!!

[Heracles 417]

I read that article earlier, and have been thinking about it for a while. I think they missed a more obvious reason. It isn't because religious-nut states condemn birth control...they shouldn't be having sex anyway, according to their book 'o laws, right? No, I think it's because the more religious a state is, the more moronic it's residents are. Where are the Bible Belt states? The south. What states have the lowest test scores in schools. Anyone want to guess? Stupid people breed, although they are the least qualified to do so. Everyone knows that the religiosity increases as the IQ decreases. Ergo, dumb teens are getting pregnant have having dumb children. The dumb children become religious fanatics and have more dumb children. At some point, the south will become a black hole and we won't have to worry about it any longer, except for it sucking even more than now.

There ya go. Have fun with that one.

[pedroh 21]

I read that article earlier, and have been thinking about it for a while. I think they missed a more obvious reason. It isn't because religious-nut states condemn birth control...they shouldn't be having sex anyway, according to their book 'o laws, right? No, I think it's because the more religious a state is, the more moronic it's residents are. Where are the Bible Belt states? The south. What states have the lowest test scores in schools. Anyone want to guess? Stupid people breed, although they are the least qualified to do so. Everyone knows that the religiosity increases as the IQ decreases. Ergo, dumb teens are getting pregnant have having dumb children. The dumb children become religious fanatics and have more dumb children. At some point, the south will become a black hole and we won't have to worry about it any longer, except for it sucking even more than now.

There ya go. Have fun with that one.

right on Platy, when in moved to NC i noticed that, to me it's not new, somehow all the hardcore religious brainwash makes the kids dumb...

the county I used to live at first was the highest NAtionwide on teen STD's for several years, and why? because The LAWD says don't use condoms, don't **.. aha.. there's nothing to do in those towns for those teens, but to get drunk and get laid.. nonsense

Edited September 17, 2009 by pedroh

[Danno 1,228]

I read that article earlier, and have been thinking about it for a while. I think they missed a more obvious reason. It isn't because religious-nut states condemn birth control...they shouldn't be having sex anyway, according to their book 'o laws, right? No, I think it's because the more religious a state is, the more moronic it's residents are. Where are the Bible Belt states? The south. What states have the lowest test scores in schools. Anyone want to guess? Stupid people breed, although they are the least qualified to do so. Everyone knows that the religiosity increases as the IQ decreases. Ergo, dumb teens are getting pregnant have having dumb children. The dumb children become religious fanatics and have more dumb children. At some point, the south will become a black hole and we won't have to worry about it any longer, except for it sucking even more than now.

There ya go. Have fun with that one.

right on Platy, when in moved to NC i noticed that, to me it's not new, somehow all the hardcore religious brainwash makes the kids dumb...

the county I used to live at first was the highest NAtionwide on teen STD's for several years, and why? because The LAWD says don't use condoms, don't **.. aha.. there's nothing to do in those towns for those teens, but to get drunk and get laid.. nonsense

Says the guy who now lives in Charlotte..... where no one is actually "from" North Carolina.

Including both of us.

Edited September 17, 2009 by Danno

[PlatyPius 5]

I read that article earlier, and have been thinking about it for a while. I think they missed a more obvious reason. It isn't because religious-nut states condemn birth control...they shouldn't be having sex anyway, according to their book 'o laws, right? No, I think it's because the more religious a state is, the more moronic it's residents are. Where are the Bible Belt states? The south. What states have the lowest test scores in schools. Anyone want to guess? Stupid people breed, although they are the least qualified to do so. Everyone knows that the religiosity increases as the IQ decreases. Ergo, dumb teens are getting pregnant have having dumb children. The dumb children become religious fanatics and have more dumb children. At some point, the south will become a black hole and we won't have to worry about it any longer, except for it sucking even more than now.

There ya go. Have fun with that one.

What's that? You want to ** a dog? Well....he IS cute....

[pedroh 21]

what's so funny about it?

I lived 4 years in the deep country, southeastern NC, the closest 'big city' was Fayetteville.. now that is country if you consider Fayettenam the 'big city'

and, around Charlotte, you can still see country.. maybe you don't know the state as well as I thought you did

[Heracles 417]

What's that? You want to ** a dog? Well....he IS cute....

Your bark is bigger than your bite.

[Danno 1,228]

what's so funny about it?

I lived 4 years in the deep country, southeastern NC, the closest 'big city' was Fayetteville.. now that is country if you consider Fayettenam the 'big city'

and, around Charlotte, you can still see country.. maybe you don't know the state as well as I thought you did

Yah, I kinda doubt you're out bumpin shoulders with the Country Boys.

As for me, I don't claim to be an expert on NC but I have lived in three different zones and know it fairly well..... at least well enough to know one has to get outside of Charlotte (and I bet Fayetteville) to find many natives.

My guess is, your bias is speaking more than your experience but I'll let you make the call on that.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Whatever happened to abstinence. Oh my.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I guess more religion = fewer abortions.

[pedroh 21]

what's so funny about it?

I lived 4 years in the deep country, southeastern NC, the closest 'big city' was Fayetteville.. now that is country if you consider Fayettenam the 'big city'

and, around Charlotte, you can still see country.. maybe you don't know the state as well as I thought you did

Yah, I kinda doubt you're out bumpin shoulders with the Country Boys.

As for me, I don't claim to be an expert on NC but I have lived in three different zones and know it fairly well..... at least well enough to know one has to get outside of Charlotte (and I bet Fayetteville) to find many natives.

My guess is, your bias is speaking more than your experience but I'll let you make the call on that.

I didn't live in Fayetteville, i lived SOUTH of Fayetteville.. Robeson county? if you've never heard of there it's ok, since it's rural as hellll..

and btw, you don't have to go far of Charlotte, Gastonia and surroundings, is still full of good ole boys.. some of my rugby teammates, are good ole boys..

[SMR 368]

I don't have any data about cause of this observation, just like the author of the article. But isn't another obvious possible explanation that religious people condemn abortion. The article doesn't state higher teen pregnancy rates. It reports higher teen birth rates. Just pointing out the obvious other explanation.