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NEWS
Study shows teen birth rates climbing in W.Va.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- For the first time in eight years, the number of teenage mothers in West Virginia is rising.
More than 2,600 teens in the state had babies in 2006, a jump of more than 130 over 2005. Those are the latest figures available from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, which says teen birth rates had been falling in West Virginia, dropping slightly in both 2004 and 2005.
But West Virginia's uptick is part of a national trend, the report says. Nationwide, the number of teen mothers grew by more than 5,700 -- from 133,138 in 2005 to 138,920 in 2006.
A separate survey indicates there could be another increase when the 2007 numbers come out, said Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that while sexual activity among teens leveled off in 2007, so did the use of contraception, which had been growing.
The studies are reminders for public health officials, said Denise Smith, director of the family planning program of the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
"It kind of warns us not to get complacent and there's still a big job to be done," she said.
The state's Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Initiative program works with teenagers starting in middle school but has only four coordinators.
Though they reach thousands of students every year, Smith said their message is often undercut by suggestions in media and society that having babies is fashionable. Even celebrity magazines devote pages to who has a "baby bump," and often, the mothers are young.
"I think they have glamorized it somewhat," Smith said.
Albert agrees that media help shape the social script for teenagers by suggesting that "babies are the new fashion accessory." But a girl's maturity, self-esteem and parental and community influence are better indicators of risk, he said.
