Counselors and school administrators might want to educate their pre-teen and teenage students about these facts. The source is a report, “Knot Yet: The Benefits and Costs of Delayed Marriage in America” from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, and the RELATE Institute.
Girls who become pregnant:
- are twice as likely not to graduate high school;
- their child is more likely to be born prematurely and have a low birth weight;
- more likely to be abused or neglected;
- suffer more school failure;
- have more behavioral problems;
- more likely to use drugs;
- their children are more likely of becoming single parents themselves.
If they are a boy who gets a girl pregnant:
- they are twice as likely to end up in prison.