Pregnant Teens: An Epidemiology

Teen pregnancy is an issue in United States, it is one issue that should wait until teens are married and know what they are doing with their lives. This issue came about in the early in the 1950’s – 1960’s. Teen pregnancy is a teenage girl between the ages 13-19 (girls who haven’t reached adulthood) having unwanted or wanted babies. Janet Bode once stated in her book, “Emotions run everywhere, scared, sad, disappointment and preparation for what is about to happen” (Bode 51). If we do not act now, teen pregnancy will be out the roof. Teen pregnancy needs a stop put to it no matter what, teens are still children themselves and they are still learning how to take care of themselves:

When we look at influences, it is hard to say what precisely is the main pressure of teen pregnancies in the United States is. Each year, almost 750,000 teenage women, in the United States of America, ages 15 to 19 become pregnant (U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics, 2006). Worldwide, rates of

There is presently much controversy regarding teen pregnancy, considering that many countries in the developed world experience a rise in adolescent pregnancies in spite of the fact that effective programs are installed in these areas. Teen pregnancy has been a major issue in Los Angeles in the recent years, but the fact that state authorities have been actively involved in combating the problem has generated positive results. It is probable that the struggle for abstinence and the practice of safe sex have become less important for high school students in Los Angeles in the last few years, taking into account that teen pregnancy rates have gone up significantly.

Over the last few decades the rates in teen pregnancy have been a debate; did they rise over the past few years or did they actually decline? Contrary to some doctors and politicians the numbers associated with teen pregnancy have decline over the last couple of years. Although there are still people out there who believe this to be an issue it’s made more of an issue than it actually is. The ads and commercials are set out to scare teen-agers into believing that were at an all time high for this issue, but realistically its actually the exact opposite. Teen pregnancy rates haven’t dropped on there over the course of the years. There are a few major factors that have contributed a great deal to this change. Those changes include but are not limited to: more resources being available to these teenagers to prevent themselves from becoming pregnant, society is more open to talking about this issue as well as the religion and culture change aspect of families today. Despite the beliefs of others, teen pregnancy rates are at an all time low for the first time in decades.

Although popular opinion sometimes indicates otherwise, according to a statistical analysis from the US Department of Health and Services (2014), teen pregnancy rates have been steadily declining for the past twenty years. In America, most teenagers are not yet fully independent

The United States of America is known for many of its outlandish and outrageous statistics in comparison to other countries. Statistics regarding obesity, homicide rates, and political issues have displayed many of the nation?s weak points. However, the amount of teen pregnancy has become so excessive that it is becoming a cry for help and a statistic that is greatly standing out and can no longer be ignored. In 1999 about one million teenagers experienced a pregnancy. This rate was twice the amount in England, Wales, and Canada and nine times greater than that of the Netherlands and Japan. About 78% of these American teenage pregnancies were said to be unplanned.

Teen pregnancy is a growing epidemic in the United States. Teen girls are becoming pregnant at an alarming rate, with a lot of the pregnancies planned. With television shows broadcasting shows such as “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom”, it is giving teenage girls the idea that it is alright to have premarital sex and become pregnant. It is in a way condoning teen pregnancy.

It has been receiving a great deal of public and official attention recently, including expressions of concern from President Clinton (Trad, 1999). However, the most extensive dilemma regarding the issue of adolescent pregnancy is the question of prevention. Preventing teen pregnancy includes such problems as the availability of birth control, sexual education among children and adolescents, and a greater sense of support for pregnant teens. However, before society can begin to successfully prevent pregnancies among teenage girls, the underlying causes and facts about the dilemma must first be exposed

An ongoing epidemic in the United Sates is teen pregnancy. In America, our society is run down by many problems. Most are caused by the older generation, but this problem has risen with the younger generation around the age of 15-19. The peak of the teen pregnancy trend started in 1990 when 60 teen girls out of 1,000 had a teen birth ("About Teen Pregnancy.”). For every 1,000 females in 2013, on average only 27 out of the 1,000 had gone through teen birth ("About Teen Pregnancy.”). Over the years, it seems that the trend is winding down and that less and less teens appear to becoming pregnant. In 2013, the teen pregnancy rate decreased by 10% since 2012 and 57% 1990 ("Teen Birth Rate | The National Campaign.”).

In the early 90’s, studies have shown that teen pregnancies occur on a regularly basis and has been severely increasing (Newsweek: Birth rates in U.S, 1991-96). As a result, this brings out a wrong impression of women to society.

Among many of the preventable diseases and health problems there is one in particular that is rooted deep within my hometown. I am a part of the graduating class of 2013 from Seaside high school, located in a tourist town on the northern Oregon coast, where according to the United States Census Bureau the median income as of 2012 was $24,201 (table 1).I remember in high school there was always a girl I knew who was pregnant, but it was not until recently when I noticed so many of my classmates and friends announcing due dates. According to Medline Plus, adolescent or teen pregnancy can be defined as “pregnancy in girls age 19 or younger” (para. 1). According to the CDC’s “Births: Final Data for 2012” report, for girls between the ages of 15-19 there were 305,388 live births, or 29.4 live births per 1,000 population (para. 1,2). Between the years of 2010 and 2012 there were 39 pregnancies recorded for girls between the ages of 10 and 19 in Seaside, Oregon and for the same time period and age group there were 110 pregnancies in Clatsop County (the county that Seaside resides within) according to the “Oregon Teen Pregnancy Count” (table 1). Teen pregnancy is preventable and yet it is still a major problem, especially in rural counties.

How many pregnant teens have there been? Over the years more girls are becoming teen moms. In Oklahoma teen pregnancy has become a problem. Recently Oklahoma has had a pregnancy rate of 47.5% (Tulsa World). Not only is it an issue in Oklahoma but an issue in the United States as a whole. The lack of awareness and how to prevent pregnancy is a reason to blame for the increasing numbers. The more we don’t make people aware of the increasing teen pregnancy rate and how to prevent then the numbers will continue to rise into an astonishing amount. Helping teens know of the different ways to prevent pregnancy can make an enormous difference in teen pregnancy. The issues that have an effect on teen pregnancy rates have been to the use of

Each year in the US almost 1 million teens become pregnant. While the facts are clear, the issues of teenage pregnancy are complicated. Talk of sex is everywhere in our society and young girls are portrayed as sex objects. Sex is used to sell everything from clothing to news and yet people are shocked at the rising number of teenagers who are sexually active. The concern about the welfare of infants and adolescents is so much that we

"Teen pregnancy in the United States: In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years old, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another record for U.S. teens and a drop of 8% from 2014. Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years. Still, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist (cdc.gov)." As teenagers (in the United States), we are peer pressured or tempted to try new things. Some teens tend to try out drugs, and alcohol. However, some are having unprotected sex in which, is leads to having babies. This is called, teenage pregnancy. This has caused the United States to create records based off of the statistics and facts given from, researchers across the United States. In order to help prevent teenage pregnancy in the United States, teenagers must understand why, having a baby now isn’t such a smart move on their part.

The teen pregnancy rate had decreased by the maximum of about 55 percent. Most teen birth rates had also gone down about 64 percent, but yet teen pregnancies and birth rate for teenagers ages 15-19 in the U.S still remains one of the highest comparable countries. Due to parenthood, most of teen moms drop out of school. More than 50% of teen mothers never graduate to get their diploma. Sexually active teens that don’t use any type of protection has a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within a year, 84 percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned.