February 2018: Student Liaison Report
About 53% of teenage mothers earn a traditional high school diploma, according to a report from the nonprofit research organization Child Trends. The report highlights racial and ethnic differences in high school completion rates among teen mothers.
In an article summarizing the report’s findings, The Hechinger Report columnist Jill Barshay writes it is particularly tempting to overlook the educational challenges teen moms face because of the rapid decline in teen pregnancies over the last 25 years.
The teen birth rate plunged more than 60% from 1991 to 2014, the most recent year of data. But, Barshay writes, it is hardly a problem solved. Nearly a quarter million teenage girls ages 15 to 19 gave birth to babies in 2014.
“We should maintain a focus on preventing teen births, but we also need to help improve the educational attainment of women once they become teen parents,” said Jennifer Manlove, a sociologist at Child Trends, who co-authored the report. “Improving outcomes for young mothers can often improve outcomes for their children.”
The report also found that 17% of teen moms who did not obtain a traditional high school diploma later passed the GED test. By contrast, 90% of women who did not give birth as teens obtained a traditional high school diploma.
Manlove emphasizes the importance of traditional high school degrees because they’re more highly rewarded on the job market than GED diplomas, she said. And, traditional high school degrees are more likely to lead to college, she said.
Manlove and her co-author, Hannah Lantos, arrived at these graduation figures by analyzing a survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The National Survey of Family Growth is primarily focused on trends in family life, such as marriage and divorce, pregnancy, infertility and contraceptive use. The National Survey of Family Growth also asks respondents about their educational attainment.
So, Manlove and Lantos combed through the 2011-15 surveys for female respondents in their 20s who said they had a baby during their teenage years and looked to see if they completed a high school degree or its equivalent.
Even with declining teen birth rates, the research found that 18% of American women ages 20-29 had a baby in their teen years. That’s nearly 1 in 5. Years after giving birth, 30% of them had neither a high school degree nor its equivalent.
To read the summary article, which contains a link to the full study results, visit http://links.ohioschoolboards.org/SU462.