Impact of community associated risks on teenage births in New Jersey communities

The recent increase in the national rate of teenage births raises serious concerns to those in the public health sector and highlights the need to reexamine teen pregnancy prevention strategies. Since prevention and support programs are administered through the community, it is critical that the risks are indentified at this level as well. This study sought to examine the community risk factors and their relative impact on teenage birth rates in NJ communities. NJ hospital discharge data (2006-2008) were used to identify the teenage (15-19) birth rate in each ZIP code in NJ. The rates of single parent household, Blacks, Hispanics, poverty, and education in each ZIP code were obtained from US Census to predict the teenage birth rates in each community. Regression analysis shows that the rates of poverty, education, and single parent household explained 57% of teenage birth rate in the community, with poverty being the strongest predictor. Unlike the findings of other studies, Black race and Hispanic origin didn't have a significant impact on the teen birth rate after controlling for poverty and other factors. This study also found that over the three year period, teen births as reported in NJ hospital discharge data have increased significantly. The top 20 towns with the highest number of teen births accounted for nearly 35% all teenage births in NJ. This suggests that there are community characteristics that contribute to making these communities more susceptible to high rates of teenage births, therefore prevention efforts should be focused on these communities.