Some eggheads at the Center for Attaching Numbers to Common Sense have come to the conclusion that African American teen mothers are more likely to get pregnant again if they're depressed.

Researchers examined almost 300 black moms between the ages of 12(!!!!!!!!!!!) and 18 living in Baltimore – home of The Wire and many killings – and discovered that teenage mothers with symptoms of depression reported subsequent pregnancies 44 percent more often than other mothers.

The study also found that depressed women are more likely to drop out of school and have unsafe sex, which fills out the equation perfectly:

teenage mom + lots of free time + little to no self-respect = another baby

TEEN PREGNANCY 101 Execs at Nickelodeon are in talks to air a news special on teen pregnancy after Jamie Lynn Spears, who starred on the network's hit Zoey 101, announced to the world that she was having a baby. "I think it's important that something be done, but I think it's important that it be done in a measured way, and not just to feed the beast of news stories," the potential host, newswoman Linda Ellerbee, said Thursday. "This is a great opportunity for parents at this moment to talk to their kids about this – more important, to listen to their kids about this." First step for Nick execs: start work on a teen pregnancy special. Second step: pass out condoms to their remaining teen stars.

I have a list of goals I made when I was in college with all the the things I want to accomplish by the age of 30. Nowhere on the list does it say "become a grandmother." And while I doubt that would be on any young person's list of goals, it's the reality for some women. Twenty-nine-year-old Leticia Magee is one of them. She had her daughter when she was 13, and the girl, now 15, has just given birth to a baby boy, who will hopefully be taught the virtues of condoms by age 7. Read 'em and weep.

Thanks, NOva

While most statistical reports about the state of black America are completely depressing — enough so that John Edwards actually thought it made sense to say that soon all black men will be in jail or dead — there are some positive advances to temper the hopelessness caused by grim reports like the Urban Leagues annual "State of Black America" report. According to the Washington Post's Courtland Milloy:

A sharp drop in teen pregnancy in the Washington area has been especially steep among African American girls. The nation's black teens now have lower rates of tobacco, drug and alcohol use than their peers. The number of black students graduating from the nation's high schools and going on to college continues to rise.

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