Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic - London

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interferes with the adolescent’s education. High teenage pregnancy rates are linked to high levels of social
exclusion and poor knowledge of contraception; they partly reflect poor sexual health practice. 165
Rates of teenage pregnancy are higher in the UK than in other western European countries. 170
The UK has
a teenage pregnancy rate almost five times higher than in the Netherlands and over three times higher
than Denmark. In the developed world only the United States has a higher rate of teenage pregnancy. 171
Teenage (under 20) conception rates for England and Scotland are broadly similar at
29 per 1,000, but higher in Wales at 35 and lower in Northern Ireland at 26. The teenage conception rate
is in decline in England and Wales and Scotland but on the increase in Northern Ireland. 4
In England and Wales in 2000, 61 per cent of conceptions to women aged under 20 led to a delivery. 172
Being an adolescent parent can lead to the health and social problems outlined above. Terminations of
pregnancy can also have an adverse effect on the health of adolescents, and adolescents who have a
miscarriage may suffer due to inadequate support. 173
Which adolescents experience teenage pregnancy and STIs?
Data comparing teenage pregnancy across ethnic minority groups is sparse. However, analysis of the
Labour Force Survey in 2001 indicated that teenage motherhood is more common among Caribbean,
Pakistani and especially Bangladeshi women, than among white women. However, young Indian women
are less likely than white women to have a baby before they are 20. Rates of teenage births among white
and Caribbean women are stable but there has been a marked decline in early parenthood in South Asian
communities in Britain. 174
During the 1990s there were marked regional variations in conceptions to adolescents. There was a northsouth
divide in England with higher under-18 conception rates and lower percentages leading to abortion
in the northern regions. London had both high conception rates and high percentages leading to
abortion. In the UK, rates of teenage pregnancy are considerably higher in areas of greater socioeconomic
deprivation. 170
The highest levels of teenage pregnancy in Great Britain tend to be in urban and
industrial areas; the lowest rates tend to be in rural and prosperous areas. The association between teenage
childbearing and residence in more deprived areas seems to be largely due to personal disadvantage
rather than to area characteristics. 175
Research in Scotland revealed that the variations in teenage
pregnancy rates between more affluent and more deprived areas widened between the 1980s and 1990s. 170
In general, higher percentages of adolescent conceptions lead to abortion in more prosperous areas, and
to maternity in less prosperous ones. 176
Research using the ONS longitudinal study shows that the risk of unintentionally becoming a teenage
mother is 10 times higher among girls from manual unskilled social backgrounds than among those from
professional backgrounds. 4
Early sexual initiation is an important factor in teenage pregnancy and STIs. NATSAL found that early age
at first intercourse was significantly associated with pregnancy, motherhood and abortion under
18 years. The prevalence of reported STIs is also higher among men and women for whom first
intercourse occurred before age 16. 156
A number of factors are associated with early sexual initiation including social influences (such as
family structure and main source of information about sex), 159
available health services, 173
socioeconomic
factors and individual characteristics (including educational level and age at
menarche). 159
British Medical Association Adolescent health