Adolescent pregnancy and infant mortality: isolating the effects of race

Researchers continue to accept the untested assumption that the difference between black and white infant mortality rates is largely attributable to race-linked differences in teenage pregnancies (Wise, 1984). The basic notion is that the inordinately high black teenage pregnancy rate (because of its association with low birth weight births) accounts for this difference. This paper tests this key assumption directly and finds only partial support for it. It then argues that the key to the black-white difference in infant mortality is poverty, not teenage pregnancy. Using data from the state of North Carolina, the results suggest that poverty, not race, plays the crucial role in infant mortality.