The Lost Relationship: Fathers and Daughters

209097 Resource 190283 190808 190808 1216159082150 1216238878950 Controlled One Teenage Pregnancy Makes a Tragedy

Thousands only make a statistic

Teen pregnancy statistics can be very misleading and making sense of them is somewhat like assigning meaning to tea leaves: they can say almost whatever you want them to say.For instance, common wisdom has it that America and Britain alone lead the developed world in teen birth rates and that Denmark is among the nations with the lowest rates. This leads people to conclude that whatever Denmark is doing to prevent teen pregnancy must be working, and whatever America and Britain are doing is not. But even that simple, widely accepted statistic begs further examination.First there's the fact that ‘birth rates’ are not quite the same thing as ‘pregnancy rates.’ A nation may have high teenage pregnancy rates, but if offset by high abortion rates, the resulting low birth rate may give a false impression. Further clouding the issue, some countries prefer not to report abortion rates, and others can’t—because, for various reasons, they don’t know what they are. Incidentally, Japan actually has the lowest teen pregnancy rates, as well as very low abortion rates—less than half that of Denmark for both statistics. And Japan’s statistics are measured for all women under 20, not just ages 15-19 as most other nations report them.Still considering the same oft-reported factoid, there are other questions that have a bearing on its usefulness. Particularly, what is teen pregnancy and why should it bother us? In the minds of most, discussions about this subject refer to teenage girls who are unmarried and pregnant. The concern arises across political and religious lines in part because single young mothers and their children are shown to be exposed to much higher risks of all sorts, whether mental, emotional, physical or economic. It isn't good for anyone when young, unmarried girls become young, unmarried mothers.But—oddly enough—national statistics aren’t reported by marital status. Married teens are usually lumped in with single teens when birth rates are reported by age. This means that statistics may include a large percentage of 18 and 19-year-olds who are married and who, in some cultures, may be surrounded by extended family support—not subject to the same risks as single teens whose lives will be seriously impacted by the struggle to raise a child alone in harsh economic circumstances. As studies have consistently demonstrated, children with fathers as well as mothers have higher levels of well-being by almost all measures. Certainly even married teen parents may have a lot to learn, but in cultures where extended family is routinely present, this deficiency may be overcome more easily.Then there is the term ‘developed world.’ In some reports, the word ‘Western’ is substituted for ‘developed,’ but both carry a certain amount of ambiguity. Does one consider New Zealand to be ‘developed’ even if not precisely ‘Western?’ If so, one also has to point out that it often beats out Britain for the second spot. As of 2006 figures (the latest compiled) the two nations are, in fact, neck and neck.Of course, when ‘less developed’ (less-Western?) nations are included in the reckoning, the U.S. and U.K. come out looking clean-cut and freshly washed. The highest rates are found within Latin America and Africa, some of the countries reaching levels two, three and four times that of the U.S.The conclusion must be that cold statistics say very little about how to address this issue. In fact, zooming in for a closer look at some of the real-life stories that make up these statistics may be the only way to gain real insight into changing them.In the December 1964 issue of The American Statistician, Yale professor Colin White wrote, "There is so much truth in the remark of [British statistician] Major Greenwood: . . . The rich drama of birth, life and death becomes, in the hands of the statistical sociologist, a report on ‘marriages, babies dead, broken lives, men gone mad, labor and crime, all treated in bulk, with the tears wiped off.’”  Especially insofar as teen pregnancy statistics are concerned, it is difficult to disagree with that sentiment.  9 application/xml false adolescent pregnancy parenting teen pregnancy statistics The Lost Relationship: Fathers and Daughters Linda Nielsen of Wake Forest University makes the connection between involved fathers and lower rates of teen pregnancy. http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=3136 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Avant Browser; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 gstepp 216.175.109.104 false true false false true 191587 false false true false false false true 209394 Resource 191587 173239 190808 1216533297840 1216703959685 Controlled I really enjoyed the topics

Hi,I have no way of contacting you except by posting a comment.  I was going through the posts on your website. I really enjoyed the topics and thought my website would be a good fit in a post. I can also provide you with some of my articles to put on your site.FamilyLobby.com is a website that is geared towards keeping the family together. Everyone has a family member that is in a different state or even a different country. They need way to keep in touch sharing memories, videos, etc... Setting up family reunions are made simple with this website. The website is kept private and password protected for only members to view.The site has been in Fortune Magazine, Essence, Newspapers, and more. Press releases can be found here: <a href="http://www.familylobby.com/releases/">http://www.familylobby.com/releases/</a>Also, let me know if you interested in posting some of your entries in our article section.If you have any comments or suggestions (negative or positive), just send me an email. Thanks, 10 application/xml false Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Avant Browser; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 gstepp 216.175.80.161 false true false false true 190283 blog blogsite/FamilyMatters/web