Copyright 1999

Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, Inc.
420 NW 13th Street
Suite 101
Oklahoma City, 73103
Phone: 405-236-KIDS
Fax: 405-236-KIDX

A short narrative on each of the eight state benchmark topics is available on this page. In addition, you can download pdf files for each of the topics. Each pdf file includes the narrative, a state map with county incident rates, and a graphical chart comparing the benchmark among the races.

Narrative on Low Birthweight Infants
pdf page on low birthweight infants

Narrative on Infant Mortality
pdf page on infant mortality

Narrative on Births to Teens
pdf page on birth to teens

Narrative on Child Abuse and Neglect
pdf file on child abuse and neglect

Narrative on Child and Teen Death
pdf file on child and teen death

Narrative on Child Poverty
pdf file on child poverty

Narrative on High School Dropouts
pdf file on high school dropouts

Narrative on Juvenile Violent Crime Arrests
pdf file on juvenile violent crime arrests

On to County Benchmarks

Low Birthweight Infants

Each year nearly thirty-two hundred Oklahoma babies (3,191 annual average) are born too small (weighing less than 51/2 pounds).

A disquieting number of these low-weight infants (526 annual average) are born very, very tiny (weighing less than 3 pounds, 5 ounces).

During this past year the proportion of Oklahoma babies born too small slowly and steadily continued to worsen (increasing from 6.8% to 6.9% of all births), with comparable rates also worsening during the year in most (46 of 77) of Oklahoma’s counties.

This trend has continued for years. A higher proportion of Oklahoma babies (6.9% of all births) are born too small today as compared to the population born in the mid-1980s (6.5% of all births), with such rates also worsening in the majority (46 of 77) of Oklahoma’s counties during the same period.

The rates of low birthweight births in the majority of Oklahoma counties (41 of 77) were worse than the average county rate (6.5% of all county births). The highest and worst low birthweight rate (9.5% of all county births) continues to be found in Choctaw County; the lowest and best (3.1% of all county births) is in Harper County during this most recent period.

The low birthweight rate for Black infants (12.4% of all Black births) nearly doubles the rate for White infants (6.4% of all White births). The best low birthweight rate and trend is recorded for American Indian infants (5.6% of all American Indian births).

While early prenatal care is known to improve these rates, less than two-thirds (62.0%) of Oklahoma’s babies were born to mothers who received the recommended level of prenatal care.

Ranking in the top half of all the states, Oklahoma’s rate of low birthweight infants is good relative to other parts of the country. Oklahoma’s national rank improved from 23rd to 21st during the most recent year (1995) measured.

Impact on Oklahoma

• Low birthweight kills Oklahoma babies. Almost 60 percent of the infant deaths each year result directly from low birthweight. In Oklahoma, seven out of 10 infants who die in the first month of life are low-weight babies.
  
  
• Low birthweight hurts Oklahoma babies and limits their futures. Of those who live, one in four will experience serious health and developmental problems — dyslexia, hyperactivity, blindness, deafness, chronic respiratory problems, mental retardation, mental illness, cerebral palsy, or others.
  
  
• The lower the birthweight, the greater the harm. Twenty percent of very tiny (less than 3 pounds, 5 ounces) babies experience cerebral palsy or other forms of brain injury. Fifty percent of very tiny (less than 3 pounds, 5 ounces) babies later enroll in special education.
  
  
• Risk factors. Infants are at risk of being born too small if their mothers are poor, are adolescents, smoke during pregnancy, drink alcohol or take drugs during pregnancy, or fail to receive adequate prenatal care.

• Unforgiving circumstances prematurely terminate the lives of defenseless Oklahoma infants. Causes of death range from birth complications and birth defects to poverty and inadequate living conditions to abuse and inadequate care to accidents and infections.
  
  
• The infant mortality rate is an indicator of a community’s overall quality of life. The rate reflects the effectiveness of economic, social and health care interventions.
  
  
• Low birthweight and infant mortality are related. The infant mortality rate can be predicted with reasonable accuracy from the proportion of babies born very small.
  
  
• Improving the outcomes. Lowering infant mortality rates requires providing education, ensuring adequate nutrition, reducing teen births, providing appropriate health care, reducing poverty and changing behavior during pregnancy to reduce smoking, drinking and drug use.

• Disquieting trends. More young people are having sex in their teens than ever before. A child’s age at their first experience with sexual intercourse is becoming increasingly younger.
  
  
• Teen mothers face bleak futures. Each young mother is more likely to be poor, to be a victim of physical violence, to have another child before reaching adulthood, to drop out of school, to have unsteady employment, to be on public assistance at some point in her life, to be less skilled, and to experience marital instability compared to peers who delay childbearing until age twenty or later.
  
  
• Sexual abuse plays a major role. There is a direct link between child sexual abuse, early sexual activity and teen pregnancy. Most teen mothers indicate their first sexual experience was non-consensual and occurred between the ages of nine and twelve.
  
  
• The children born to teen mothers are the youngest victims. These children are more likely to repeat the cycle of teen childbearing, to have lifelong developmental and health problems, to have lower cognitive functioning, to do poorly in school, and to exhibit problem behavior.
  
  
• Teen childbearing is costly to Oklahoma taxpayers. During the most recent year for which information is available (FY 95) Oklahoma spent $647,633,777 on public expenditures (AFDC, WIC, Food Stamps and Medicaid) to support families begun by teens. For every dollar Oklahoma spends on the consequences of teen childbearing, less than one-half of one cent is invested in the prevention of teen pregnancy.
  
  
• Risk factors. Poor literacy skills, poor progress in school, academic failure, drug use, and the loss of self-esteem are good predictors of early childbearing. Children who don’t read well are at risk for early pregnancy.
  
  
• Improving the outcomes. Being connected with community, school and family decreases the risk of teen pregnancy and birth. School success, involvement in activities during non-school hours and opportunities to develop decision-making and problem-solving skills join to prevent premature pregnancy and birth. Having positive options, aspirations for the future and goals for education and training beyond high school help young women make good choices and avoid becoming teen mothers. Having healthy family communication and positive peer and adult role models decrease the likelihood that children will have children.

• Child abuse and neglect kills Oklahoma children. The number of Oklahoma abuse and neglect related deaths is increasing. Deaths from neglect are more common than deaths from abuse. Infants and toddlers account for about half of Oklahoma’s child abuse and neglect deaths. Child abuse and neglect deaths of Oklahoma teenagers are on the rise.
  
  
• Child abuse and neglect hurts Oklahoma children and limits their futures. Half will suffer delay in their development or serious physical or emotional impairments. Attachment disorders are common. Victims of child abuse and neglect are more likely than others to be arrested for delinquent behavior, adult criminality, and crimes of violence and prostitution. Girls who are abused and neglected in childhood are seventy-seven percent more likely to be arrested as juveniles. There is a direct relationship between being a victim of sexual abuse and later teen pregnancy. A large majority of teen mothers report that they had been sexually abused as children. Teen mothers, in turn, face bleak futures.
  
  
• Defenseless children deserve better. Most abused children are abused by their own parent or parents. In Oklahoma, children are commonly neglected while their caretaker abuses drugs. In Oklahoma, child victims of abuse are most commonly beaten or sexually abused. Mental injuries are on the rise.
  
  
• Risk factors. Low birthweight infants, infants born premature, and children with disabilities, chronic illnesses or developmental delay are at higher risk of abuse and neglect. Adoptive, foster and step-children are at higher risk of abuse and neglect. Children of adolescent mothers are more than twice as likely to be victims of child abuse and neglect than are the offspring of mothers who are either twenty or twenty-one years of age. Children of single parents are at higher risk of abuse and neglect and are at an 80 percent greater risk of suffering serious injury or harm from that abuse or neglect.
  
  
• Victims become abusers. Research indicates that victims of child abuse are at a higher risk of abusing their own children when they become parents.

• Disquieting trends. Over the last several decades, the leading causes of death for children and teens have changed from natural causes, such as illness and birth defects, to injury and violence. Increases in suicide are much greater among adolescents than among the general population. AIDS is fast becoming a disease of the young. Today, one-half of all new HIV infections in the United States occur in people under the age of twenty-five. Children increasingly imitate violence they observe on television.
  
  
• Risk factors. The majority of teen deaths can be attributed to preventable factors, including unhealthy behaviors such as sedentary lifestyle, poor nutritional habits, substance use and abuse, unsafe sexual practices and risky vehicle use. Having a gun at home is associated with increased suicide risk among older adolescents. Poor and minority children are at greater risk of death due to the lack of health insurance and the difficulty obtaining appropriate and necessary medical care. Poor and minority children are less likely to receive lifesaving preventive services. Risk of accidents and the resulting deaths increases for low-income families as they are less likely to use safety devices due to lack of money, lack of transportation to obtain them and/or a lack of control over their housing conditions.
  
  
• Improving the outcomes. Being connected with community, school and family decreases the risk of violence and death. Reducing poverty, providing effective education, ensuring adequate health care and changing behavior among children and youth to reduce drinking, drug use and other risk-associated behaviors prevent premature death.

• Poverty kills Oklahoma children. Poor children are three times more likely to die during their childhood than non-poor children.
  
  
• Children are limited by their family’s low income status. Being poor means living on an income which renders a family unable to purchase enough food for an adequate diet. One out of every three adolescents who live in poverty has no health insurance.
  
  
• Poverty hurts Oklahoma children. Poor children are more likely than non-poor children to eat an inadequate diet, to stay cold in the winter, and to receive little health care. Children represent twenty-five percent of the residents in Oklahoma’s general population homeless shelters. Poor children are more likely to experience poor health, have out-of-wedlock births, experience violent crime, act out violently later in life and end up poor as adults.
  
  
• The younger the child, the greater the harm. The first years of a child’s life are a formative period, crucial to emotional and intellectual development. Poverty for infants and toddlers poses serious threats to brain development. Poverty increases the risks of inadequate nutrition, poor health care, exposure to environmental toxins and substance abuse, maternal depression, trauma and abuse, and inadequate child care.
  
  
• Poor children face bleak futures. Poor children are more likely to have reduced access to transportation, communication and quality education. Poor children are more likely than non-poor children to score low on standardized tests, drop out of school and face resulting severe economic and social consequences including less employment opportunity, poorer earning ability, higher rates of substance abuse, and higher unemployment.
  
  
• Improving the outcomes requires community participation and planning. Lowering poverty requires employment which provides parents with adequate wages to support their family. Access to medical care, child care, housing and transportation are essential for people to move successfully from welfare to work. Child poverty rates will decrease with community support for quality education, adequate nutrition, appropriate health care, and changes in behavior to reduce drinking, drug use, abuse, and premature sexual activity.

Back To Top

High School Dropouts

During the most recent year on record (school year 1996-97), almost twelve thousand (11,673) young Oklahomans quit school without graduating. Nearly ten thousand (9,513) of those dropping out were ages 18 or younger.

About two of every ten students in Oklahoma who start high school as freshmen do not earn a high school diploma. This year students dropped out sooner. Most left school in the ninth grade.

Even though the number of children (under age 19) dropping out of high school (grades 9 through 12) improved slightly for the state (449 fewer) during this past year, the rate of children leaving school without graduating worsened (from 5.3% to 5.6%). The dropout rates worsened in more than half (45 of 77) of Oklahoma’s counties during the same period.

This year Oklahoma’s high school dropout rate (5.6%) is slightly worse, but remains close, to that of the comparison school year of 1994 - 1995 (5.5%). Such rates also worsened in a majority (45 of 77) of Oklahoma’s counties during the same period.

The dropout rates were better than the average county rate (4.4%) in about half of Oklahoma’s counties (38 of 77) and worse in about half of Oklahoma’s counties (39 of 77). During this most recent period, the highest and worst rate of children leaving school without graduating (9.0%) is found in Pawnee County; the lowest and best (1.3%) is in Cimarron County.

During this past year, the proportion of girls failing to finish high school increased only slightly (from 44.7% to 45.1% of all dropouts) as the proportion of boys decreased accordingly (55.3% to 54.9% of all dropouts).

The large majority (62.3%) of children failing to finish high school are White. However, while non-White children comprise only about one-fifth (21.7%) of the child population, they account for nearly one-third (30.4%, excluding Hispanics) of the high school dropouts. Hispanic children, recorded as a nationality rather than a race, comprise just over five percent (5.5%) of Oklahoma’s child population. A slightly higher proportion of Oklahoma dropouts (7.3%) are counted as Hispanic.

Impact on Oklahoma

• A lack of education impacts a child’s health and well-being. Dropouts have higher rates of substance abuse than those who complete high school. Smoking is far more common among women who have lower levels of education.
  
  
• Risk factors. Factors which place students at risk of dropping out include teen pregnancy, adolescent fatherhood, poor school performance, substance abuse and behavior problems. If children can’t read well by the end of third grade, their entire school experience is at risk. Children from families whose parents never completed high school, or started the family as teens themselves, are more likely to drop out than their peers.
  
  
• High school dropouts face bleak futures. Youth not completing high school face severe economic consequences including poverty, little employment opportunity, poor earning ability and the possibility of a lifetime of financial dependence. Unemployment rates for workers over age 19 are twice as high for dropouts than for graduates. The lack of education is intertwined with crime. In 1996, a majority of Oklahoma inmates were high school dropouts.

Back To Top

Juvenile Violent Crime Arrests

In 1997, juveniles accounted for about one-fifth (20.3%) of all persons arrested for all Oklahoma crimes.

In 1997, nearly twelve hundred (1,171) Oklahoma youths from the ages of 10 through 17 were arrested for committing violent crimes. Twenty-four were arrested for murder, four for manslaughter, 63 for forcible rape, 332 for robbery and 748 for aggravated assault.

The overwhelming majority of youth arrested for violent crimes in Oklahoma are male (982 youth or 83.9%).

During this past year the proportion of Oklahoma youths from the ages of 10 through 17 arrested for violent crimes continued to improve from 1995’s record high (from 393.2 arrests per 100,000 youths in 1995 to 341.5 arrests per 100,000 youths in 1996 to 283.7 arrests per 100,000 youths in 1997), with comparable rates also improving or remaining the same during the most recent year in the large majority (56 of 77) of Oklahoma’s counties.

Oklahoma’s current juvenile violent crime arrest rate (283.7 arrests per 100,000) remains significantly higher than that of 1980 (172.4 arrests per 100,000), with such rates also worsening in a majority (45 of 77) of Oklahoma’s counties during the same period.

The juvenile violent crime arrest rates for 1997 were better than the average county rate (153.7 arrests per 100,000) in most of Oklahoma’s counties (50 of 77). During this most recent period, the highest and worst rate of youths from the ages of 10 through 17 (771.5 arrests per 100,000) arrested for violent crimes is found in Kay County. The lowest and best rates (0.0 arrests per 100,000) are in nineteen Oklahoma counties (Adair, Alfalfa, Atoka, Beaver, Choctaw, Delaware, Ellis, Grant, Harmon, Harper, Haskell, Jefferson, Love, Major, McIntosh, Nowata, Okfuskee, Roger Mills and Woods).

While non-White children comprise only about one-fifth (21.7%) of the child population, they account for nearly half (46.6%) of the violent crime arrests of children under age 18. Hispanic children, recorded as a nationality rather than a race, comprise just over five percent (5.5%) of Oklahoma’s child population. A slightly higher proportion of the juvenile violent crime arrests in Oklahoma (6.0%) were arrests of Hispanic youth.

Based on the latest figures available (1995), Oklahoma’s current rate (283.7 arrests per 100,000) of arresting young people for violent crimes continues to remain well below the corresponding national rate of 507 arrests for every 100,000 youths ages 10 through 17.

Impact on Oklahoma

• Disquieting trends. The number of juveniles arrested for carrying or being in the possession of a weapon is on the rise in Oklahoma. Juvenile drug possession arrests have tripled in the past decade. Juvenile arrests for violent crimes are outpacing juvenile arrests for non-violent crimes. Police in Oklahoma are increasingly likely to refer juvenile violators to criminal or adult court.
  
  
• Risk factors. Children at higher risk for involvement in violence and crime include teenage boys born to adolescent mothers, young people doing poorly in school, youth who expect to die young, youth who are neither in school nor working and those living in urban areas. In 1996, a majority of Oklahoma inmates were high school dropouts. Victims of child abuse and neglect are more likely than others to be arrested for delinquent behavior, adult criminality, crimes of violence and prostitution. Girls who are abused and neglected in childhood are seventy-seven percent more likely to be arrested as juveniles. A poor child is more likely than a non-poor child to be a current victim and a later perpetrator of violent crime.
  
  
• Juvenile crime prevention begins in the home. Adolescents living in homes where there is easy access to guns are more likely to be involved in violent behaviors. The rise in handgun use has resulted in youth violence becoming more lethal. Children are numbed to the real effects of violence by viewing over 10,000 murders, rapes and aggravated assaults each year on television. Children imitate violence watched on television in their own homes.
  
  
• Improving the outcomes. Experts blame the rise in juvenile crime on the failure of families, schools, and communities to recognize early warning signs. Being connected with community, school and family decreases the risk of violence, death and crime.

On to County Benchmarks

Back To Top