Risk of teen fatherhood among a sample of Black, White, and Hispanic males

The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. Nationally,over 700,000 girls become pregnancy each year. Majority of the prevention and intervention efforts focus primarily on the adolescent female.  Significantly less attention has been devoted to the adolescent male, his risk of becoming a teen father, his experience of teen fatherhood, and his psychosocial transition to adulthood as a young father. Teen pregnancy prevention, intervention, and research should not be one-sided.  Rather, all aspects of teen pregnancy should be investigated in order to understand and effectively address this social problem. This study conducted secondary analysis of the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data. The Risk and Resilience Perspective guided this study to determine to the factors associated with teen fatherhood. The sample consisted of 4588 adolescent males between the ages of 15 and 17.  Of the 4588 males, 22% (n = 1022) were Black, 46% (n = 2120) were White, and 32.5% (n = 1446) were Hispanic. ANOVA analysis was used to compare mean scores on the newly developed Teen Fatherhood Risk Scale. Linear regression was employed to assess whether or not the selected variables were predictors of teen fatherhood.  Multiple regression was conducted to determine which variables remained significant in the face of control variables.  Of the selected risk factors, race was the best predictor of teen fatherhood, followed by lifetime marijuana use.  Of the selected protective factors, HIV/AIDS education was the best protector against teen fatherhood. Implications for teen pregnancy prevention specific to adolescent males and future research recommendations are presented.