Choice and Circumstance: Racial Differences in Adolescent Sexuality and Fertility

First published in 1986. Forty five percent of black women have at least one child by the time they are turn twenty compared to 19 percent of white women. Eight-six percent of the births to black teens occurred to unmarried mothers compared to 30 percent among whites. Research shows that teenage childbearing has negative medical, social, and economic consequences and that women who first gave birth as teenagers are more likely to raise their families in poverty. In Choice and Circumstance t...