O.C. Teen Pregnancy Rates Showing a Relentless Rise

Reflecting the growing number of teen-age pregnancies in Orange County, about 400 teens turned out Wednesday for a pregnancy and parenting conference, more than double the number at a similar event last year. Some were under age 14.

Sponsors of the conference said they were alarmed at reports that more teens are becoming sexually active at younger ages. In addition, they cited continuing high teen birthrates despite widespread acknowledgment of the social and financial problems that ensue.

The annual teen birthrate in Orange County has climbed steadily from 2,929 to 4,745 in the last decade. Experts estimate that an equal number of teen-age girls obtain abortions.

Kathleen Goldberg, president of the Adolescent Pregnancy Childwatch Coalition, a project of the Junior League of Orange County, attributed part of the increase to a growing population. But she also blamed sporadic sex education programs in public schools, as well as an entertainment industry that glorifies sex and parents who are in denial about how early sexual activity begins.

“Parents haven’t accepted that they have to talk to kids (about postponing sex) at 10,” she said.

In 1990, 75 girls between age 10 and 14 delivered babies in Orange County.

The second annual “Good Beginnings” conference sought to put pregnant and parenting teens in contact with agencies and services that could help them with issues of self-esteem, their legal rights, child safety, sexual and physical abuse and sexuality. The teens attended workshops, in English and Spanish, and saw dramatic presentations on three-generational living and AIDS.

One goal of the conference was to prevent second pregnancies and exposure to the HIV virus among participants, Goldberg said. Seventy percent of teen mothers have a second child before they reach 21, she said.

Among the problems associated with early childbearing are babies with low birth weights due to a lack of prenatal care, school dropouts, poverty and sexually transmitted disease. According to a UC San Francisco study, families begun by California teen-agers in 1985 will cost $717.6 million each year for the next 20 years in food stamps, Aid to Families With Dependent Children and MediCal payments.

According to a January report of the Centers for Disease Control, 54% of the nation’s high school students are sexually active, and one in 25 had a sexually transmitted disease. In the survey, 40% of ninth-graders said they had had sex, rising to 72% by 12th grade.

Some participants did not share their elders’ opinion that teen pregnancy should be viewed as a problem. “If you can handle the stress, it’s a good experience,” said Jason Lozano, 18, of Santa Ana, one of the few teen-age fathers who attended the conference with the mother of his child.

Lozano said he cares about his son and wants to be involved in his life. “He needs to have a male role model,” he said. “Kids bring so much joy. I love watching him smile.”

Some saw both sides. “It’s bad if you’re still a child yourself, trying to raise another one,” said Diana Castro, 15, whose son, Joshua, was born when she was 14. “It’s good because he’s there,” she said.

However, Stacy Trenz, a pregnant 18-year-old high school graduate who is working as a waitress, said she knows she is becoming a mother too early in life. “But you can’t go back now,” she said.

At the conference, she particularly appreciated seeing the other young mothers “actually living and getting through it.”

Trenz is living with her boyfriend who she said already has another child he does not support. She fears that if they break up, she might wind up in the same situation and have to move back home with her mother.

Newman said she has seen more youngsters becoming pregnant at younger ages. “Sexuality and intimacy are such a big part of TV and the theater, I think they just accept it as the way it is.”

She said many of the mothers were not opposed to birth control, but just hadn’t got around to using it. “I’ve had students say ‘I never thought I’d get pregnant.’ ”

Most of their parents are supportive, she said, but “my feeling is there wasn’t a lot of communication from parent to child.”

Evaluations on the effectiveness of sex education programs are inconclusive, Goldberg said. “But we know ignorance doesn’t help.”

In Orange County, sex education programs vary widely from school district to school district and do not necessarily correlate with pregnancy rates. In any case, Goldberg noted, schools “can only go so far” and much responsibility falls to parents.

Later this year, a new state-sponsored sex education program, stressing postponement and targeted to junior high students, will be disseminated in pilot programs locally by the Coalition for Children, Adolescents and Parents and by Planned Parenthood of Orange County. A key component of the program is training parents to talk to their children about sex, monitor or discuss their exposure to sexually explicit entertainment and understand how much adolescence has changed, Goldberg said.

Parents also need to understand that their children may not be getting the basics of sex education in school and that they will be subjected to peer pressure.

Until she became involved in the prevention programs, Goldberg said, she too did not understand the extent of freedom and lack of supervision that characterize most teens’ lives.

“I was in a group talking about sex in the back seat of a car and they all laughed,” she said. “They are doing it at home, in hotels. . . . “It’s not the parents’ fault. They have to talk more about it, and at a younger age. You have to prepare your child for these things.”

Adolescent Pregnancy

Births among girls ages 10 to 19 years old rose 62% between 1982 and 1990 in Orange County.

‘82: 2,929

‘90: 4,745

Birthrates Increasing Birthrates for all Orange County teen-agers increased between 1985 and 1990. Althought the oldest of the three groups had the highest overall rate, its five-year percentage increase was by far the lowest: Birth rate per thousand

Ages 10 to 14 15 to 17 18 to 19 1985 0.62 19.82 62.25 1990 1.02 33.50 85.28

What Is Behind Adolescent Pregnancy?

Informal surveys among young mothers reveal these common traits and influences:

* Nonassertiveness and inability to fend off partner’s sexual advances.

* Pressure to have sex from advertisements, films, videos and peer groups.

* Returning after school to unsupervised homes.

* Fear of seeking birth control devices and education.

* Inability to discuss birth control with parents and sex partner.

* Hope that having a baby will alleviate loneliness and make them feel loved.

Source: The Coalition for Children, Adolescents and Parents, Orange County Health Care Agency.

Researched by: JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times