Teen pregnancies impacting school dropout rates

LYNN – A new report indicates that one in four pregnant teenagers in Massachusetts drops out of school because the responsibility of parenting is overwhelming.On the bright side, the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy cites research that many teenagers headed toward dropping out become re-committed to school once the baby is born. In city’s like Lynn, where the teenage birthrate increased by 18.9 percent between 2006 and 2007, taking a closer look at the reasons is imperative.Experts met Thursday at the State House in Boston to discuss the situation with nearly 100 teenage parents who contend that more programs are needed to help them stay in school.Among the report highlights: 25 percent of dropouts indicate teen parenting as the primary cause.Of nearly 300 pregnant and parenting teenagers surveyed, 40 percent said they had a difficult time staying in school before they became pregnant or an expectant father. Over 50 percent of these same respondents said school was less challenging once they became parents.Quinn asked, rhetorically, what was the overwhelming reason why school was less challenging? The students’ answer: They felt they had to stay in school for their children, she said.According to Quinn, Massachusetts will only meet the goal of reducing the dropout rate by 50 percent over five years if a better job is done supporting pregnant and parenting teenagers still in school. “Because pregnant and parenting teens are uniquely motivated to stay in school for their children, they should be first priority for dropout prevention and recovery interventions,” she said.In Lynn, Girls Inc. provides a pregnancy prevention program for teenagers, yet the city ranks 8th on the list of the 25 communities statewide with the highest teen pregnancy rates.Research by the Alan Guttmacher Institute in 2006, contained in a report entitled U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics National and State Trends, found that Massachusetts consistently has a lower teen birthrate than the national level among girls between the ages of 15 and 19.For example, the U.S. teen birth rate in 2007 was 42 per 1,000 births, while the Massachusetts rate was 22 births per 1,000. The researchers noted that the abortion rate in Massachusetts is higher than in many other states.Guttmacher further indicated that between 2006 and 2007, the Massachusetts teen birth rate rose for the first time in over 15 years. Lynn had 147 births to teen mothers in 2006 for a teen birth rate of 47.7 percent. The following year, Lynn had 175 births to teen mothers, for a 56.7 percent birth rate. The change marked an 18.9 percent increase in a single year.