ABSTRACT
When Congress enacted the new welfare law in 1996, it put at least as much emphasis on reducing teen and nonmarital childbearing as it did on requiring work. Nonmarital childbearing is not, as many people seem to think, synonymous with teenage childbearing. The decline in the teen pregnancy rate raises the question of what is causing fewer teens to become pregnant. Some analysts contend that the major reason is that more of them are abstaining from sex, and some say that greater use of contraception is the primary reason. Most people who have reviewed the data and the associated controversies have suggested that a reasonable conclusion is that teens are both engaging in less sex and using more protection. A second possible reason for the decline in teen pregnancy is more conservative attitudes. Various polls and surveys suggest that the youngest generation is less accepting of casual sex than are their older brothers and sisters.
