d other birth injuries and neurological defects. Teenage childbearing has a consequence for society at large in that it increases local and national public assistance and other funding necessary to treat these medical and social conditions. It has been estimated that approximately 60 percent of the children born to unmarried teenagers are recipients of welfare. According to surveys by the National Institutes of Health, other problems as well can be attributed to the problem of teenage pregnancy:
The overall rates of adolescent childbearing have steadily declined over the past decade, but there has been a threefold increase in the number of infants born to unmarried teenagers between 1960 and 1983. At least 23 percent of teenage mothers said they had become pregnant intentionally, and 48 percent of adolescent mothers said they later regretted the timing of the birth of their first child.
Early unmarried parenthood is tied to reduced educational achievement, marginal income-earning capacity, and dependence on welfare. Teenage mothers tend to have larger families by the time they reach their thirties and forties, and married teenage couples tend to break up at a higher rate than married adults.
Children of unmarred teenagers are generally in poor physical health, generally have lower IQ scores than children of older mothers, are less likely to adapt to the disciplines of school, and are at a higher r
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