The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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For the young black man it is a badge of their manhood to have children.
We had had a boy who was 15. He had two kids and three more on their
way from five separate girls and he is quite proud of this...So, you have
got a fifteen year old that instead of this being something to avoid it is a
mark of their adulthood and they don’t really have any intent or
knowledge that they can be a parent to this kid, the child that is coming
along. And, again, you get that with white kids,...but it seems to be
disproportionate.
...Much of my feeling is what we talked about before. Is that the lack of
black male connectiveness to a proper family persons role, your obligation
to your family and so on.
Q. Speaking of obligations to families, what about teenage pregnancies,
does that factor into this
A. Oh yeah. We talked about family traditions in the black
community being different than family traditions in the white
community. Young black females, who have been raised in their mothers
home without the solid family connection would see it as more natural to
raise children in a home without a father and therefore, may see it as being
more acceptable to begin their family without a male counterpart in the
picture.
Q. When you say begin with their family, that sort of makes it sound like
it is intended, do you think that unintended female pregnancies are a factor
here
A. Yeah.
Although it may not seem consistent with their responses, both officers contend that the
cause of this situation rests with economic factors rather what would seem to be
adherence to subcultural values.
Differences in the single parent household were also believed to impact the
availability of positive role models for black youth and in turn, create a sense of
hopelessness and helplessness.