Understanding the fertility-economy link for teenagers.

The 1990s and early 2000s have seen major changes in both the economy and fertility patterns. For the economy there was a long and robust economic expansion with especially large economic gains for minorities and teenagers followed by a lingering recession. For fertility this period has seen large declines in fertility through the decade for both 15-17 and 18-19-year-olds with even larger declines among black teenagers. Consistent with these trends in teenage fertility the rate of sexual activity has declined through the 1990s while the use of contraception has increased both to an increasing degree for black relative to white teenagers. (excerpt)