Getting a Piece of the Pie?: Declining Teen Birth Rates during the 1990s

Cynthia G. Colen, University of Michigan
Arline Geronimus, University of Michigan
Maureen G. Phipps, Brown University

This study seeks to examine whether declining teen fertility rates in the United States during the 1990s were responsive to the unprecedented economic expansion of that decade. First, national birth certificate data were used to determine fluctuations in first and second birth rates among black and white women aged 10 to 29 between 1970 and 1999. Second, Poisson regression models were estimated to assess the relationship between rates of first and second births and state specific unemployment among young black and white women during the time period from 1970 to 1999. Falling unemployment rates in the 1990s were associated with decreased fertility among African American women aged 15 to 24. Young black women, especially older teens, may have adjusted their reproductive behavior to take advantage of expanded labor market opportunities.