Created: 10/28/2009 9:06:44 AM 
A new look at the characteristics of teen parents finds that most aren't from single-parent households nor are they from households in poverty, according to a data analysis released Tuesday.
The study by the nonprofit Child Trends for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, shows that of teens who report having a baby or fathering a child:
- 39% lived with both biological parents; 19% reported living with one biological and one step-parent.
- 28% lived in families with incomes below the federal poverty line.
Those who have had a teen birth are disproportionately more likely to be from single-parent families compared to teens overall, but the study finds more than half of teen parents were themselves from two-parent families.
The data used in the Child Trends review are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative survey of students. The sample of 14,322 respondents includes 6,767 men and 7,555 women who were in grades 7-12 when the survey began in 1994-95. The Child Trends analysis used that original data as well as follow-up data compiled in 2002.
The 2002 statistics show that 15% of the women and 5% of the men reported they had given birth or fathered a child as a teen. The study notes that some were still teens during that period, so the data is not complete.
USA Today
