Marital opportunity, parental investment, and teen birth rates of Blacks and Whites in American states

This study used parental investment theory to identify predictors of teen b irth rates for Blacks and Whites for 41 U.S. states for which data were ava ilable for 1995. Regression models were built that predicted Black teen bir ths, White teen births, and both together using indices of parental investm ent (unemployment, prison incarceration rates, poverty, marital opportunity for women as indexed by sex ratios) and controlling for economic developme nt (urbanization, infant mortality rates). White teen births increased with state poverty rates and incarceration rates and decreased with marital opp ortunity for teens. Black teen births increased with incarceration rates an d decreased with marital opportunity. In the joint model, all measures of p arental investment predicted teen births, and they explained all of the Bla ck and White differences therein. Early reproduction and its variation acro ss states and racial groups can be seen as an adaptive response to diminish ed prospects for parental investment.