Teenage Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing

Examining the social consequences of teenage childbearing, the editors explain the effects on adolescent parents themselves, their offspring, and their families, and discuss ways of preventing or tempering those effects.

Why have Americans suddenly become troubled about teenage sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing? These are not new problems, certainly, and the birthrate among teenagers—even the youngest of them—has been declining for some years. What has aroused public concern, accor…