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“Too much too young”: race, descriptive representation, and heterogeneous policy responses in the case of teenage childbearing

Teenage childbearing has long been a discomforting discourse in the USA. Despite the increasing efforts in finding out what policies work to reduce teen birth rates, the literature lacks a sufficient explanation of heterogeneous policy effects on racial and ethnic groups. Focusing on race and ethnicity, we examine how descriptive representation is associated with heterogeneous policy effects for Whites, Blacks, and Latinos. Analyzing data on 50 states from 1990 to 2006, we find that descriptive representation in the healthcare and education workforce conditions the effects of publicly funded family planning services and state-mandated sex education programs. Minority healthcare professionals and teachers both contribute to reduce minority teen birth rates. Moreover, teen birth rates for White students are lower in states with more minority teachers. Our research highlights the importance of incorporating race and representation in policy studies that seek to understand heterogeneous policy effects. Key empirical findings suggest that the lack of diversity of the core policy implementation workforce is a major challenge for reducing teenage childbearing in states with diverse populations.