1 in 4 teens has an STD

[dgriffin]

Actually, as Clipper pointed out, race, age, whatever are normally shown in any of these studies. But what we see in the media is often pulled punches. I presume that's because the newspaper or other news outlet doesn't want to deal with PC complaints. And that's a danger to democracy when the news is sifted for marketing purposes. Not that it's anything new.
So, a sanity check is always in order when we listen to statistic of any sort. When I heard on the radio one day that "2 (or was it 3) out of 5 adult males have had a serious non-traffic run-in with the police," I asked myself if that proportion was true among possibly 20 men I know well. It wasn't. When a number of years ago I heard that XX% of Catholics confess to birth control, I asked myself how the hell was that data collected. And I've been asking myself similar questions about studies ever since.

[thelma]

froggy said:

thelma said:

No one wants to break down these kind of statistics based on race for fear of being criticized - but this one on STD did. I wonder if there are any statistics on which race has the highest percentage of absentee, unmarried "fathers" that also don't pay child support. IMO - I woiuld believe they would point to the same race.

By not breaking down the stats by race, and other demographics, they would never know who is the most at risk. Some time ago they identified older black males as more at risk for heart attack and stroke than other demos. That means older black males need to be extra careful with heart care.

Now, if the statistics point to a particular age, race, sex, etc group as having higher occurances then it would show who and where the message is not reaching, thus they can target them a lot better.

As far as support issues, no idea if anyone keeps that kind of statistical data, but there's good and bad out there regardless. I know a few deadbeat white dads who don't take care of their children. My two stepdaughters being fathered by one such deadbeat. Its one thing to pay support and claim the title of "dad". Its a completely different story from actually fathering children.

....................................................

Froggy - I couldn't agree with you more about the "deadbeat dads". My 3 GD's have these kind of biological "fathers". If it wasn't for my financial help, etc., my GD's would never have had the normal life they have had and would have been forced to live in sub-standard housing, etc.

NONE of the girls refer to their "fathers" as Dad as they all realize that he has never played a part in their lives. Hell - he wasn't even there when all three girls were born - but I was.

They don't even refer to him as "Dad" ; when his name does come up, they refer to him as "my biological sperm donor" - which describes him the best.

IMO - the Courts don't do nearly enough to go after these deadbeats and force them to honor their responsibility to help raise their chilldren, as well as help towards their support.