Facts & Figures
2008
Analysis of the Need for Teen Pregnancy and Adolescent Childbearing
Prevention in Connecticut Communities
By: Rosemary S.
Richter, M.A.
Family Planning Program
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Connecticut Health Center
Over the last ten years in Connecticut, rates of
teen pregnancy and adolescent childbearing have fallen, echoing a
nationwide trend. However, in many individual communities in
Connecticut, adolescent childbearing continues to be a problem. The
following analysis delineates where the need is the greatest, and
identifies communities that might reap the most benefit of efforts to
reduce teen pregnancy and adolescent childbearing.
Data from the Annual Registration Report from the
Connecticut Department of Public Health were used in this analysis. The
most recent data from DPH includes the time period 2000 through 2004.
Averaging the annual percentage of births to teens
over the five year period identifies 20 individual communities that
exceeded the statewide average for births to teen mothers (aged 19 or
younger) and is depicted in
Table 1 . It is important to note however, that several
communities do not exceed the statewide average for every year in
the analysis. These communities include Putnam, West Haven, Groton,
Plainfield, Bloomfield and Bristol. These data suggest that it is
likely that the problem of teen pregnancy and adolescent childbearing is
not as severe in these communities as in the others listed on this
Table.
Table 2 presents
communities that consistently exceed the statewide average for births to
teen mothers. Of these, two communities, Thompson and Griswold, have
very small total populations, 8,878 and 10,807, respectively. This
means that in these communities, while there appears to be a consistent
problem with adolescent childbearing in Thompson and Griswold, the
actual raw number of teen mothers is quite small. These numbers are
contrasted in Table 3 with the raw number of
teen mothers in the State’s five larger cities including Hartford, New
Britain, New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury.
Table 4 lists 12
individual communities that consistently exceed the statewide average
for births to teen mothers in Connecticut for the time period including
2000 through 2004 and, based on population estimates, would appear to
reap the greatest benefits from efforts to prevent teen pregnancy and
adolescent childbearing. These communities include Hartford, New
Britain, Windham, New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New London, Meriden,
Killingly, Norwich, East Hartford, and Ansonia.
Neediest Communities in Connecticut
Statewide in
Connecticut there has been a slow decline (about three quarter of a
percentage point) in the proportion of teen births relative to births to
older mothers, over the last five years. To see the trend data specific
to a particular community in comparison to the overall state data,
please click the town name.
Summary
When using a simple
arithmetic average over five years, 20
communities can be identified as exhibiting a pattern of births to teen
mothers which exceeds the statewide average. Of these 20
communities, several do not show a consistent pattern of
exceeding the statewide average of births to teenaged mothers.
Inconsistency is exhibited in the following communities: Putnam, West
Haven, Groton, Plainfield, Bloomfield and Bristol. In each of these
communities in one or two years of the five year period, the percentage
of births to teens was in fact lower than the statewide average.
While some very small
communities—Griswold and Thompson—demonstrate a consistent trend of
exceeding the statewide average for births to teens annually, the actual
instances of births to teens is quite small. This is in stark contrast
to the consistently large raw numbers and percentages of births to teens
in Connecticut’s largest cities including Hartford, New Britain, New
Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury.
Communities that would
benefit the most from interventions aimed at preventing teen pregnancy
and adolescent childbearing include Hartford, New Britain, Windham, New
Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New London, Meriden, Killingly, Norwich,
East Hartford, and Ansonia.
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