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Teen pregnancy continues to be an important issue for youth development
professionals to address. With nearly four in ten young women becoming
pregnant at least once before age 20, the United States has the highest
teen pregnancy rate in the western industrialized world. Teen pregnancy
has adverse consequences for teen mothers, the children of teen mothers,
and for society in general. Only one-third of teen mothers receive a high
school diploma, and nearly 80 percent of unmarried teen mothers depend
on welfare. Children born to teen mothers tend to have lower birth weights
and suffer health problems related to low birth weight. Children of teen
mothers are also more likely to lack proper health care, suffer from abuse
and neglect, and perform poorly in school. Teen pregnancy costs the federal
government about $40 billion dollars a year in help provided to teen mothers.
(Source of statistics: http://www.teenpregnancy.org
)
CYFERnet has a variety of resources related to teen pregnancy prevention.
For more teen pregnancy prevention resources, go to CYFERnet's Teen Pregnancy Resource List .
For Other Hot Topics, check here.