More California babies born to high school dropouts

But there also was good news in the study, which examined trends from 1990 to 1998 in all 50 states and the 50 largest cities. Pregnant women were more likely to have seen a doctor and less likely to have smoked.

"Conditions at birth often reflect the forces that will shape a young person's life," said the report, produced by the research firm Child Trends and Kids Count, a project that conducts an annual survey of child well-being.

The nation overall made more progress during the 1990s than did large cities, which lag behind in almost every measure. Researchers also noted wide variability.

In Dallas, for instance, the portion of pregnant women who failed to get important prenatal care by their second trimester dropped from 17 percent to 5 percent between 1990 and 1998. Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, it increased from 4 percent to 12 percent.

In California, 31 percent of babies were born to mothers with less than 12 years of education, compared to less than 21 percent nationally, the report said.

Los Angeles had the worst rate of dropouts in the study: 45 percent of the new mothers there lacked a diploma.

"Obviously California's demographics and cultural differences have a lot to do with that," said Susan Thompson, an administrator with the state Department of Education.

California's overall dropout rate also is higher than the nation's. Between 1994 and 1997, 19 percent of Californians aged 16 to 24 were high school dropouts, compared to 14 percent nationally, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

"We know that young women who are not doing well in school are more likely to get pregnant and young women who are pregnant are more likely to drop out of school," said said Amy Dominguez-Arms, vice president of Children Now, an Oakland-based advocacy group.

But California's teen birth rate of 11 percent was slightly less than the national average of 12.5 percent. Both the state and national rates were virtually unchanged from 1990 to 1998.

Children born in California lost ground in a number of important ways, mirroring a national trend.

Babies born more than three weeks early in the state rose slightly from 9 percent in 1990 to 10 percent in 1998. Nationally, the share of preterm babies edged up from 11 percent to 12 percent.

Throughout the state, babies with low birth weights rose slightly from 5 percent in 1990 to 6 percent in 1998. Nationally, the percent born too small crept up from 7 percent to 8 percent.

The portion of babies born to unmarried mothers in both California and the nation was 33 percent, up from 31 percent in California in 1990 and 28 percent nationally.

Nationally, the report finds progress on several measures:

--Prenatal care: Mothers who get timely prenatal care are less likely to have babies with health problems, the report notes. In 1998, just 4 percent of pregnant women failed to prenatal care, an improvement from 6 percent in 1990.

Among the 50 largest cities, there was a significant drop: from 9 percent in 1990 to 5 percent in 1998. El Paso, Texas, ranked worst, with 13 percent of moms failing to get care.

--Smoking: Nationally, the percent of babies born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy fell from 18 percent in 1990 to 13 percent in 1998 as smoking rates among all women of childbearing age fell. The portion of children born to smoking moms ranged from 5 percent in Washington, D.C., to 26 percent in West Virginia.<