Child Support and the Sexual Activity of Adolescent Males

Chien-Chung Huang, Rutgers University
Wen-Jui Han, Columbia University

The increase in sexual activity among adolescents and the resulting growth of teenage pregnancy in the United States is of particular concern to the general public for moral, social, economic, and political reasons. Despite their recent decline, the teenage pregnancy and birth rates in the United States are still higher than those found in most developed countries. Most previous studies in US teenage pregnancy have focused on women¡¦s intentions by examining women¡¦s socioeconomic background and state welfare environment, despite the fact that decisions about sexual intercourse and contraception involve two people rather than one. Using the 1995 new cohort of the National Survey of Adolescent Males, the purpose of this paper is to examine the association between child support and the sexual activity of adolescent males in the hope to shed lights on the extent to which child support may be associated with reducing adolescents¡¦ sexual activity from men¡¦s perspective.