Tougher Statutory Rape Laws Expected to Have Limited Impact on Teen Childbearing

New study by Urban Institute demographers dispels myths aboutrole of older men and their relationships with minor mothers

Washington, D.C.—Recent actions to increase enforcement of statutory rape laws are expected to have limited results in reducing adolescent childbearing, a new study by Urban Institute researchers found. While large age differences between adolescent mothers and their sexual partners raise serious social concerns, the new analysis reveals that only 8 percent of all births to 15-19-year-olds would fall within the scope of statutory rape laws.

These and other findings from the study by Urban Institute researchers Laura Duberstein Lindberg, Freya L. Sonenstein, Leighton Ku, and Gladys Martinez were released today in their article, "Age Differences Between Minors Who Give Birth and Their Adult Partners," in the March/April issue of Family Planning Perspectives, published by The Alan Guttmacher Institute.

Statutory rape laws reflect society's understandable concern about large age disparities between minors and their partners. However, "The enforcement of statutory rape laws won't be the magic bullet for eliminating teenage pregnancy," says Laura Duberstein Lindberg. "If the goal is to reduce teenage pregnancy, we need to continue to focus on other types of prevention efforts such as sex education, family planning, and improved education and job training to expand life opportunities for young people."

A widely reported study last year found that two-thirds of births to 15-19-year-old girls were fathered by males age 20 or older, fueling a growing interest in statutory rape law enforcement as a means of reducing teenage childbearing. While these laws vary state by state, they only apply to unmarried minors (individuals younger than 18), and typically require a substantial age difference between the girl and her partner.

In the new study, Lindberg and her colleagues establish that only 8 percent of births to adolescents 15 to 19 years old are within the scope of statutory rape laws (see chart). Births to adolescent girls age 18 or 19, births to married adolescents, and births to girls with a partner less than five years older than themselves are unlikely to be targets for enforcement of statutory rape laws.

How many minor mothers have older partners? Overall, 27 percent of births to 15-17-year-old girls are fathered by men five or more years older than themselves. However, this proportion was substantially higher among 15-year-olds, among whom 40 percent of births were fathered by substantially older men. The findings regarding the youngest mothers raise serious concern about sexual abuse and coercion.

What kind of relationships? New findings help dispel the belief that all relationships between minor mothers and much older fathers are predatory. First, 23 percent of these young mothers were married at the time they delivered their babies. Second, 35 percent of minors with an older partner had been cohabiting during the pregnancy, and 49 percent were living with their partner at the time of the interview (up to 30 months after the birth).

Which minors have an older partner? Contrary to expectations, the study found that having an older partner was not strongly associated with the minor's race or household income. Other behaviors strongly differentiated minors with older partners from other teen mothers. Minor mothers who already had a child were more likely than those with a first birth to have had an older partner, by 42 percent to 25 percent. Also, mothers aged l5 to 17 who had used alcohol in the three months before pregnancy were nearly twice as likely to have had an older partner, by 43 percent to 22 percent.

Which men are involved? Older men fathering children with minors are more likely to be employed, and are in higher-status occupations than teenage males fathering children with minors. Other comparisons found that older men with minor partners have comparatively lower earning potential and are less likely to be married or cohabiting than are their peers who father children with adult women.

The researchers examined data from the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey, which interviewed mothers of a nationally representative sample of births in the U.S. Information was collected from the mother about the father's age and other characteristics. The data do not provide information about sexual relationships or pregnancies that do not result in a live birth.

Support for this study was provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (NICHD, NIH) and the Office of Population Affairs (OPA).

"Age Differences Between Minors Who Give Birth and Their Adult Partners," by Laura Duberstein Lindberg, Freya L. Sonenstein, Leighton Ku, and Gladys Martinez, Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 29, No. 2, March/April 1997, The Alan Guttmacher Institute., 120 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005.

Copies of this article are available through the Urban Institute Office of Public Affairs, (202) 857-8702 . For a copy of the full journal issue, please call Susan Tew at The Alan Guttmacher Institute, (212) 248-1111.

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