San Francisco, Calif., – New research released today at the American Public
Health Association’s 140th Annual Meeting in San Francisco builds on
previous knowledge about the link between teen pregnancy and social inequities
internationally and suggests that, independent of other factors, low literacy
in pre-teen girls strongly predicts childbearing among US teens.
This is the first study of
its kind to examine the prospective link between literacy among US pre-teens
and subsequent teen child bearing. Researchers at the Perelman School of
Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania School
of Nursing linked seventh-grade reading among 12,339 girls (average age 11.9
years) enrolled in Philadelphia Public Schools to subsequent live birth records
between 1996-2002. Findings reveal that girls with a less-than-average reading skill
were 2.5 times more likely to have a child in their teen years compared with
those with average reading skill. Twenty-one percent and three percent of girls
with below-average reading skill had either one or two (or more) live births respectively
during the six-year assessment period. Meanwhile, 12 percent and 1 percent of
girls with average reading skill and 5 percent and 0.4 percent with above
average reading skill had such births.
The study also assessed
racial disparities in literacy as a contributor to teen child bearing. Hispanic and African American girls
were overrepresented in the below-average reading skill group. In addition, the
effect of low literacy on risk of teenage parenting was stronger in Hispanic
and African American girls than those who self identified as White. The
researchers point out that poor reading skills in early grades are difficult to
overcome and predictive of subsequent decisions to drop out of formal
education.
“It is quite possible that
adolescent girls who experience a daily sense of rejection in the classroom
might feel as though they have little chance of achievement later on in life,”
said Rosemary Frasso, PhD, researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School
of Nursing. ”Our findings underscore the role of literacy as its own social
risk factor throughout the life-course.”
Researchers conclude that
health care providers working with pre-teen girls should consider literacy when
delivering contraceptive and other reproductive health services to this
population. The study is scheduled to be published in the February 2013 issue
of Contraception.
APHA’s 140th Annual Meeting is themed “Prevention
and Wellness Across the Lifespan” and will focus on the importance of
environmental, social and behavioral issues that impact health at all stages of
life.