Among teenagers, that figure rises to three out of every four children born. In 1997, more than 27 percent of all births to unmarried women in California were to teens age 19 or younger. In the 1960s in California 10 percent of births were to unmarried women. Today births to unwed women of all ages account for more than 32.7 percent of all live births. Between 1985 and 1994, births to unmarried African American teens increased from 58.2 percent to 63.1 percent, while births to unmarried Caucasian teens rose from 16.3 percent to 23.2 percent.
Teenage mothers are likely to have another child before they are an adult.
Children whose fathers are absent are twice as likely to drop out of school. Increased Incidences of Crime Between 1987 and 1992, juvenile arrests for violent crime increased by 75 percent. In 1992, nearly 60 Californians were raped, kidnapped, assaulted, murdered or robbed by juveniles each day, and by the year 2004, juvenile arrests for crime are expected to soar 62 percent. Making Prevention a Priority. Mothers who began motherhood as teenagers are more likely to have been poor, remain poor and to need welfare in the future.