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PURPOSE: To examine how cohort trends in family, individual, and relationship characteristics are linked to trends in adolescent reproductive health outcomes to provide a better understanding of factors behind recent declines in teenage birth rates. METHODS: We examine a sample of three cohorts of females and males aged 15-19 in 1992, 1997, and 2002, based on retrospective information from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. We identify how family, individual, and relationship characteristics are associated with the transition to sexual intercourse, contraceptive use at first sex, and the transition to a teen birth. RESULTS: Cohort trends and multivariate analyses indicate changes in family and relationship characteristics among American teens have been associated with positive trends in reproductive health since the early 1990s. Factors associated with improvement in adolescent reproductive health include positive changes in family environments (including increases in parental education and a reduced likelihood of being born to a teen mother) and positive trends in sexual relationships (including an increasing age at first sex and reductions in older partners). These positive trends may be offset, in part, by negative changes in family environments (including an increased likelihood of being born to unmarried parents) and the changing racial/ethnic composition of the teen population. CONCLUSIONS: Recent increases in the U.S. teen birth rate highlight the continued importance of improving reproductive health outcomes. Our research suggests that it is important for programs to take into consideration how family, individual, and relationship environments influence decision-making about sex, contraception, and childbearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this article examined how early maternal characteristics, an adolescent's family environment, and the adolescent's own attitudes and behaviors were associated with the odds of a nonmarital teenage birth among youth born to teenage mothers. Multivariate analyses indicated that these domains were closely linked. Early maternal characteristics shaped the later family environment of adolescents (parenting quality and home environment), which, in turn, was associated with the attitudes and behaviors of teens that put them at risk of a nonmarital birth. Notably, there was variation in some of the associations by gender. Increased mother's cognitive ability lowered the risk of a nonmarital birth for boys, but not for girls, whereas fertility expectations were significant for girls, but not for boys. There were no race-ethnic differences in the risk of a teenage birth among girls, although Black boys had a higher risk than White boys., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

This study examines predictors of a cumulative measure of high-risk births, rather than single risks separately, as in prior research. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort survey, we incorporate data from fathers and mothers to assess characteristics associated with births subsequent to a focal child's birth within high-risk circumstances. Components of a high-risk birth include: high-parity, very closely-spaced, or births to unmarried couples, unhappy couples, or couples in high-conflict relationships. Both fathers' and mothers' pregnancy intentions affect whether couples have a subsequent high-risk birth. The odds of a high-risk subsequent birth, relative to no birth and to a low-risk birth, are more than twice as high if only the father intended the birth of the previous child rather than if the child was intended by both the mother and father. High-risk subsequent births are much more likely among couples where the prior child was high risk and where family income was low, and lower where both father and mother had lived with both biological parents. Findings highlight the importance of father data in fertility research.