CDC Study Finds Two in 10 Teen Births are “Repeats”

Of the 365,000 teens who gave birth in the US in 2010, almost 20% involved mothers who already had at least one child, says a new report from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

The good news is that number has fallen to a 20-year low.

But the figure still concerns Dr. Lee Warner with the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health.

“From a parent’s standpoint, teen pregnancy and childbearing has potential negative consequences for mother and child–so limited education, limited job possibilities,” he says. 



Warner says American Indian, (21.6 percent), Hispanics (20.9 percent), and non-Hispanic blacks (20.4 percent) represented the highest rates of multiple births.  The lowest, 14.8 percent, were to non-Hispanic whites. 

States in the South and the West also accounted for a disproportionate number of repeat teen births.

To keep the numbers declining, Warner says teens need better access to effective contraceptives.  He also says a federal program that offers in-home visitation to teen parents has proven successful.