Conservative Protestantism and Church Attendance Effects on Teen Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes

Daniel A. Powers, University of Texas at Austin
Christopher G. Ellison, University of Texas at Austin

This paper investigates the effect of conservative protestant upbringing and church attendance on teen pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes for a cohort of non-Hispanic White women who were at risk for teen pregnancy during the early 1980s. Multivariate models show that lower teen pregnancy rates are associated with frequent church attendance for all religious groups (including non-religious) and that conservative protestants generally have higher rates of teen pregnancy than other groups. However, devout conservative Protestants showed the lowest rates of teen pregnancy.