Teen birth rates highest in most religious states (Due to communities frowning on contraception ?)

MSNBC ^ | 9/17/2009 | Jeanna Bryner

[SeekAndFind]

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.

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.

[WaterBoard]

I think the best way to read this is that religious communities let the children actually be born than abort them like in non-religious communities.

[nmh]

and lumping Humanism in with Christianity to discredit genuine Christianity and God.

[rwfromkansas]

Abortion could play a role here, as well as the fact that the more conservative states tend to be more rural and thus, the opportunity to fool around is more present...it’s just something to do on a boring Friday night.

[BertWheeler]

What’s your point? I missed something.

[the long march]

And the questions they asked DO NOT pertain to Christianity ( as such) most of those statements for the “very relgious” would apply to Muslims as well. And it is known that the ROP encourages young marriage and lots of babies

[Retired Greyhound]

http://www.duggarfamily.com/

They are doing a fine job all by themselves.

[SeekAndFind]

This table shows data that reflect birth rates and religiousness throughout the United States. "Birth rate" is the state’s national ranking by rate of teen births according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and "religiousness" is the state’s national ranking based on responses to a survey of religious beliefs taken by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Asterisks indicate that no data are available.

State	Birth rate	Religiousness
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Mississippi	1	1
New Mexico	2	22
Texas	3	12
Arkansas	4	7
Arizona	5	33
Oklahoma	6	10
Nevada	7	34
Tennessee	8	4
Kentucky	9	9
Georgia	10	11
Louisiana	11	5
Alabama	12	2
South Carolina	13	3
North Carolina	14	8
District of Columbia	15	100000*
Wyoming	16	100000*
Missouri	17	16
Florida	18	23
West Virginia	19	13
Alaska	20	46
Colorado	21	41
Indiana	22	17
Kansas	23	15
Delaware	24	27
Hawaii	25	18
South Dakota	26	21
Ohio	27	26
California	28	37
Montana	29	20
Illinois	30	31
Idaho	31	14
Oregon	32	38
Virginia	33	19
Utah	34	6
Michigan	35	29
Maryland	36	25
Nebraska	37	24
Washington	38	35
Iowa	39	32
Pennsylvania	40	28
Wisconsin	41	40
Minnesota	42	36
Rhode Island	43	43
North Dakota	44	30
Maine	45	47
New York	46	42
New Jersey	47	39
Connecticut	48	44
Massachusetts	49	45
Vermont	50	49
New Hampshire	51	48

[lastchance]

Cause everyone knows that if it is a “highly religious” state they winnow out the non believers and send them to the heathen outlands.

[Retired Greyhound]

Minority communities in MS and NM may explain some of it.

[nmh]

“It’s not lack of contraception, it’s disdain for abortion.”
I was adding to your comment and pressed “post” to soon.

and lumping Humanism in with Christianity to discredit genuine Christianity and God.

The LEFT hates Christianity and tries it's best to mock it. I doubt that this was a “conservative” group. I suspect those considered “Christianity” would hardly pass the grade up yonder ... . MSNBC will use this to ridicule genuine Christianity and push using birth control and sex education at earlier and earlier ages.

[Antoninus]

Of course. I'd be shocked if this wasn't the case. Note how they phrase the stat:

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.

In the less religious states, they just kill the baby in utero.

[ladyjane]

These journalists really have an agenda. I wonder if they learn it in journalism classes or if it is self-selection. Could be they’re not very smart.

They may get A’s in journalism classes but they flunk research design. Nothing in their data says it’s the religious folks who are having the babies.

[Niteranger68]

If they didn't poll the political views of the actual parents, the article is worthless and logically invalid.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Can’t have anything to do with low abortion rates. Surely not.

[pgyanke]

Judging by the top 10 alone, I would assume that the “undocumented” play a role in these numbers...

[B-Chan]

"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."

Sounds logical. Even teenagers from religious homes grow up in a culture where "sex for fun" is considered a human right. It all stems from the Enlightenment/Reformation idea that the individual is the basic unit of society, and that no one has the right to limit an individual's liberty.

The truth, of course, is that the family, not the individual, is the natural basis of human society, and that outside of a context of marriage and procreation the sexual act becomes meaningless and harmful.

The worship of individual liberty has made slaves of us, by shacking us to our primal desires. Until our current liberal/libertarian social environment collapses, the best thing a parent can do to prevent their children from fornicating is to raise them as part of a loving family that is explicitly at odds with the prevailing culture. Step One: get rid of television and radio in the home.

[ladyjane]

It takes a huge leap to conclude that it’s the religious teens who are having the babies.

It reminds me of a study showing an extremely high correlation between the number of churches and the number of taverns in cities. But you can’t conclude there’s a causal relationship between religion and drinking. Bigger cities have more of both!

Who ever funded this guy didn’t get their money’s worth. Bad study. What did they expect, the guy’s name is Strayhorn.

[Buckeye McFrog]

anti-Catholic-anti-Mormon-slander-ping-alert

[ansel12]

Mississippi is number one, it is also more than 37% black.

[nycteacher]

Not sure how much sense it makes to compare state teen pregnancy rates. Wouldn't comparisons of individual communities be better? This from the Daily News on Bronx, NY (about as liberal and secular a place as one could get) pregnancy rates.

As a teacher in the South I can't remember a semester where I haven't taught 3 or 4 pregnant students. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2008/03/04/2008-03-04_bronx_teen_pregnancy_rate_soars.html