I initially found this information because
I was trying to see how many teen fathers
married the mothers of their children.
You'll find this information first,
followed by the entire report about the
values of teen fathers. I was very
impressed and amazed by what I read (not
by the first data, but by the info about
their values):
Eight of ten teen fathers do not marry
the mothers of their first children.
These absent fathers pay less than
$800 annually for child support, often
because they are quite poor themselves.
[url=Eight of ten teen fathers do not
marry
the mothers of their first children.
These absent fathers pay less than
$800 annually for child support, often
because they are quite poor themselves.
source
Reducing teen pregnancy is closely
connected to the
goal of promoting responsible fatherhood.
Research
shows that involved and committed fathers
are important to
the well-being of their children.
Unfortunately, children
born to teen parents are often denied a
close connection
with their father because the relationship
between their parents
frequently dissolves over time.
• Children who live apart from their
fathers are five
times more likely to be poor than children
with both
parents at home.1
• Boys and girls without involved
fathers are twice as
likely to drop out of school, twice as
likely to abuse
alcohol or drugs, twice as likely to end
up in jail, and
two to three times more likely to need
help for emotional
or behavioral problems.1,2
• Teen girls who don’t have a father
in their life are two
times more likely to initiate sexual
activity early and
are seven times more likely to get
pregnant compared
to girls with fathers present.3
• Also, teen girls who have a higher
quality relationship
with their fathers are less likely to
initiate sexual activity
compared to those who report a lower
quality relationship
with their fathers.4
• Teen boys who live with both parents
initiate sex at an
older age compared to teen boys in other
family situations.
5
• Over two decades of research confirms
that parents –
both fathers and mothers – are an
important influence
on whether their teenagers become pregnant
or cause a
pregnancy.6
There is growing attention to the
responsibilities of boys
and young men in preventing teen
pregnancy. At last
count, 40 states had strategies to prevent
unwanted or tooearly
fatherhood. This emphasis on primary
prevention for
boys and men is a welcome trend. Still,
too many young
men are not waiting until they are ready
– emotionally and
financially – to become fathers:
•
The
good news is that sexual activity
among teenage
boys is declining; in fact, less than half
of all teen boys
report that they have ever had sex.7
• More teen boys are also using condoms
when they have
sex, and almost one in four sexually
active teen boys
report that they used dual methods the
last time they
had sex (they used a condom and their
partner used a
hormonal method).7
• When it comes to marriage, divorce,
and non-marital
childbearing, teen boys tend to have
slightly more traditional
attitudes compared to teen girls—only
about
half of teen boys approve of non-marital
childbearing
compared to almost two-thirds of girls;
close to threequarters
of teen boys think that getting married is
better
than staying single compared to about half
of teen girls;
about 4 in 10 teen boys approve of divorce
as an solution
to marriage problems while close to half
of girls
agree.8,9
Teen Pregnancy and Responsible Fatherhood
Eight of ten teen fathers do not marry
the mothers of their first children.
These absent fathers pay less than
$800 annually for child support, often
because they are quite poor themselves.
• The best available data show that
after increasing 32
percent between 1986 and 1991, the teen
birth rate for
fathers aged 15 - 19 decreased 31 percent
between
1991 and 2004.10,11
• Eight of ten teen fathers do not marry
the mothers of
their first children.12
• These absent fathers pay less than
$800 annually for
child support, often because they are
quite poor themselves.
12
• Some research suggest that teen
fathers have lower
education levels and suffer earning loses
of 10-15 percent
annually.12,13
Clearly, there is more that could be done
to send a strong
message to teen boys and young men that
they should wait
to become a father until they are ready to
have a lasting —
ideally married — relationship with the
mother of their
children and are able meet their financial
and emotional
responsibilities to their children. In
addition, there is more
that could be done to build on efforts
within the teen pregnancy
prevention field to reach out to boys and
young men
through what are sometimes called “male
involvement programs.”
It is also important to recognize and
support the
important role that fathers can play in
helping their own
sons and daughters avoid becoming teen
parents.
