Purpose. Data show that teen birth rates in Central California have been decreasing over the last decade. Nevertheless, Central California teen birth rates continue to exceed those of the state of California as a whole and the nation. Teen birth rates in Central California are predicted to increase and remain among the highest in the state because of rapidly changing population demographics and expanding poverty in the region. Because of these impending conditions, this research was conducted to: 1) to compare specific demographic characteristics of Central California communities by the rates of live births to women ages 15-19; and 2) to understand where services and interventions to prevent teen pregnancy and assist teen mothers may be needed most.

Methods. A community-level analysis was conducted using six demographic variables: 1) Latino population, 2) foreign-born population, 3) population who speak a non-English language at home, 4) population without a high school diploma, 5) female-householder families, and 6) families with incomes below the poverty level. These variables were analyzed against percentages of teen births (live births to women ages 15-19) in Central California communities using data from the California Department of Health Services (2004a) (Number of Live Births by ZIP Code of Mother's Residence By Race/Ethnicity and Age of Mother, Infant Birth Weight, and Mother's Prenatal Care, California 2001) and the U.S. Census 2000 (Community Demographic variables by ZIP code). Data for the 318 ZIP codes in eight Central California counties (Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare) were aggregated into 61 community ZIP-code clusters. Each community cluster was then ranked by the percentage of births to teen mothers by comparing the total number of teen births to the total number of live births within the cluster. The 61 clusters were partitioned into four quartiles and ranked by the percentage of teen births. A series of one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed to analyze the relationship between community cluster percentages of teen births and corresponding community demographic variables.

Results. The results of the ANOVAs demonstrated statistically significant differences between the four quartiles of teen births against the percentage of each of the six demographic variables examined, indicating there is a relationship between higher percentages of teen births with higher percentages of residents living in poverty, families headed by a single female, low levels of educational attainment, foreign-born residents, and residents who are predominantly Latino and speak a non-English language at home. The results also expand knowledge about the direction of population growth in Central California and reveal obvious disparities in the prevalence of teen births in these communities.

Implications. The findings imply that Central California communities need to: 1) examine individual and community risk factors associated with unprotected teen sexual activity and pregnancy when devising interventions to reduce teen birth rates; 2) promote evidence-based, community-centered teen pregnancy prevention programs; and 3) develop prevention and education activities that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, as well as clinically relevant.