Research and Summary

Research Question: What socioeconomic factor (specifically, population density, political leanings, and poverty rates) affect a region's teen pregnancy rates?

Hypothesis: Rural, poor, conservative areas will have higher rates of teen pregnancy due to the effects of poverty and abstinence-based education.


Variable 1: Rural vs. Urban Areas (i.e., Teen Pregnancy Rates as Function of Population)

Note that the data is essentially random and has no distinct pattern. After noticing the two outliers at the top of the graph, these data points were removed to provide a better graph, which follows:


Still this graph doesn't convincingly show that the teen pregnancy rate can be appropriately expressed as a function of population.

What about the political disposition of a region? If a locale tends to vote for conservative candidates, we hypothesize that there will be a larger number of teen pregnancies due to the fact that conservative areas typically lack comprehensive sex education.

As this chart shows, there is a general trend between the political disposition of a region and the teen pregnancy rates. As hypothesized, conservative areas typically exhibit higher rates of teen pregnancy than liberal ones.

What about poverty rates? It's also hypothesized that poverty rates and teen pregnancy rates should have a positive correlation with each other (i.e., higher poverty rates have higher teen pregnancy rates).

As with the population hypothesis, there is, ostensibly, little correlation between teen pregnancy and the poverty rate. However, elimination of the 3 outlying points yields a much better chart as shown below:

From this is appears that the teen pregnancy rate is closely related to poverty when the outliers are accounted for.

Summary:

Teen pregnancy rates are a complicated issue with many different variables to consider. From the research we've done, it's apparent that political leanings and poverty rates are typically important factors in the rate. It's also noteworthy to mention that 7 points do not make a deep data set, and thus more information would be needed before conclusive statements could be made.

News Articles

Article 1
This article, from Cowlitz County (where Longview is located) is about how the town is experiencing an upswing in birth rates across the board, despite the significant economic downturn. Additionally, one person expects it to continue increasing as the economy fails to recover.
Article 2
This article, from King County shows how high poverty areas in Seattle have higher rates of teen pregnancy. It goes on to state that Planned Parenthood will initiate a Teen Outreach Program designed to reduce these rates.
Article 3
In this article a table is presented showing the teen pregnancy rates across the US. Areas in the South are prone to higher birthrates while the East and West Coast experience lower incidences of teen pregnancy.
Article 4
This link leads to a series of articles on teen pregnancy in Orange County. The most salient point is that the region has roughly halved its teen pregnancy rate from 7% to 3.5% in two decades. Another report shows a correlation between abstinence education programs and a rise in teen pregnancy rates.