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Babies of teenage mothers 60% more likely to die

Doug Payne Dublin

A report on teenage parenting issues from an Irish parliamentary committee has said that the death rate for babies and very young children of teenage mothers is 60% higher than that for children of older women.

The report, from the joint committee on family, community, and social affairs, examined a broad range of issues related to teenage parenting in the Republic of Ireland and called for 20 measures to improve the young parents’ situation.

Frances Fitzgerald TD (member of Ireland's House of Representatives), the committee member delegated to present the report, said that the welfare of teenage mothers in Ireland was very much a "hit and miss" affair as far as health and social authorities were concerned. There was a need, she said, for young people to be directly targeted as a group with specific needs.

Noting that babies born to teenagers in Ireland were more likely to die in their first year than babies of older women, the report added that mortality for children aged 1-3 years age was also highest for teenage mothers.

The children of single teenage mothers were at particular risk for several reasons. Single mothers were now more likely to live in poverty than they were in the 1980s, were less likely to finish their education, and were more likely to have poor social support.

The report said that young single mothers were three times more likely than older women to experience postnatal depression, with 4 in 10 being affected. The number of teenagers giving birth had not increased appreciably in recent years, but the vast majority of teenage mothers were now unmarried.

The number of teenage women reported to have had abortions in the United Kingdom has also shot up—from a rate of 0.2 per 1000 teenagers in 1970 to a rate of 4.6 in 1996.

Pointing out that only 40% of school students were receiving courses on relationships and sexuality, the report (which had 20 recommendations) called for a committee to monitor the effective implementation of such courses in all schools.

The committee also said that guidelines on the care of pregnant and parenting teenagers should be prepared by the Department of Education and that flexible education arrangements should be made available for pregnant teenagers in school.

It also called for short term payments for teenage mothers to encourage them to return to education and training. The report is now to be circulated to government departments and the Colleges of General Practitioners and Obstetricians are also being solicited for responses. "We need to get good quality information to young people," concluded Ms Fitzgerald.

Teenage Parenting—Contemporary Issues 2000 will be available from the Irish government’s website on www.irlgov.ie/