Teen Parenting in the United States Raising a child as an adult can be very demanding at times, but can you imagine how difficult it would be to raise a baby as a teen, when you are still a child yourself? Although the teen birth rate in the United States has been on a decline for the past decade, teen pregnancy is still a significant issue affecting many people (Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing). Teen pregnancy has been considered morally and ethically wrong in the United States for centuries (Sprague). Taxpayers all across the country, the parents and the child are all stakeholders of this social epidemic and are affected in many ways such as economically, educationally, and martially. Thinking clockwise the most broadly affected stakeholders would be the taxpayers, which are indirectly affected by teen pregnancy. According to the Office of Adolescent Health, teen pregnancies cost the United States taxpayers $9.4-$28 billion a year though public assistance payments, lost tax revenue, and greater expenditures for public health care, foster care, and criminal justice services (Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing). There have also been many government-funded programs with the intent of preventing teen pregnancy. Until recent years the government’s thoughts were that the only way to be sure there are no teen pregnancies is to promote abstinence until marriage (Melby 1). With in the years of 2001-2009 3.1 billion taxpayer dollars were spent delivering this message to American
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
Teenage pregnancy may not be one of the bigger issues of the world, like war or drug abuse, but it still holds credibility. It also does not have a high declining rate. All of the world teenagers still get pregnant, whether it be by a small or high percentage, and the government has no way to stop it. However, the government can control what happens afterwards, when the baby is born. Obviously, teens would have trouble in raising a baby on their own because they are not yet adults so they need both financial and supportive help. So the government created Acts to help and states carried out assistance programs as well. However, there has been controversy in whether or not teenage mothers deserve all of this help. Teenage mothers should be
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.
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.
Teenage birth rates, defined as live births per one thousand 15-19-year-old US females, declined by 10% from 2012 to 2013 from 29.4 to 26.5. In fact, the birth rate has been on a steady decline over the past 20 years, from 61.8 in 1991 to 26.5 in 2013. Teenage pregnancy represents both a health and social inequality in our society. Specifically, teenage childbearing is a public health issue because teenage mothers are more likely to experience negative social outcomes such as dropping out of school. This is a self-reinforcing cycle, as children of teenage mothers face higher chances of poor academic achievement as well as getting pregnant or getting someone else pregnant in their teenage years (CDC). Although the overall rates of teenage pregnancy have dropped, ultimately, the variations in the rates reflect the intersecting disparities regarding race and ethnicity, income inequality, geography, and environmental factors, which in turn affect access to medical care, education, and resources.
One of the main reasons for high rates of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. is the continuation of ineffective abstinence based education (Bell, 2009) and not allowing teenagers to make abortion related decisions. In the U.S. Eighty two percent of the teenage pregnancy is unintended and 37 % of total unintended pregnancies result in abortion. Teenagers choose to abort babies because of shame, staying focused on career, unstable financial status to support babies and not getting emotional and economic support from parents. Twenty two percent of pregnant teenagers choose not to tell their parents (ACLU, 2001).
Then, following connecting the causes and responses to teenage pregnancy and parenthood, the validity and effectiveness of the policy responses will be assessed. Successes and shortcomings will be considered, along with suggestions as to what policy and structural changes would be more advantageous. Finally, this paper will conclude that teen pregnancy is a structural issue not individual one, if it can even be considered an issue at all. Policy changes alone will not be sufficient, as social and economic disadvantage does not go away if one doesn’t get pregnant. Instead, it involves targeting societal values at their root, which is not socially or economically as simple as just introducing reports and growing a social panic largely against those who already face many obstacles.
Tax payers have to pay a small fortune every year because of costs associated with teen pregnancies. The American people had to cover $9.4 billion in expenses in 2010 ("About Teen Pregnancy"). High school dropout rates are obscenely high amongst teen mothers. Approximately 50% of women who give birth during adolescence will go on to graduate high school ("About Teen Pregnancy"). This causes the young mother to be at a higher risk for poverty and a lowers the amount of opportunities to be successful. Children being born into broken homes are more likely to follow in their parent’s footsteps. Students whose families aren’t intact are less likely to receive sexual education, and are more likely to have a teenage pregnancy (Kohler, et al. 347-48). Teenage pregnancy is a problem which compounds as it progresses unless it is controlled in an effective way. In this case, that is teaching at safe
The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually. Family First Aid has stated that “thirty-four percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20 — about 820,000 a year. Eight in ten of these teen pregnancies are unintended and 79 percent are to unmarried teens.”
Teen pregnancy is a current, ongoing issue within the United States. While the rate of women between the ages of 15-19 has dropped by 11%, this issue, as a whole, is still unresolved.1 Teen pregnancy costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year with increasing numbers in foster care and health care related expenses.1 I will propose three different prevention strategies that can be applied to this issue.
In just the year of 2014 249 hundred thousand babies were born by women ages fifteen-nineteen (CDC.Gov). This many babies being born by women this age are adding a large dependency ratio in america. Teen pregnancy is a declining problem in America but it is still a problem that should not be ignored.
Teen pregnancy statistics in the United State over the years have gone up. Referencing from 1996 to 2014. Has teen pregnancy been glorified in today’s society? Or became a trend. MTV producers portray that it’s okay to be a teen mother. Based on their hit TV shows, “16 & Pregnant” and “Teen Mom.” Producers pick one girl who’s pregnant and document her everyday struggles during one thirty-minute episode. Most of the teens from this show come from broken homes or have parents that don’t really show attention to them.
According to experts approximately 9 percent of Unite State teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 become pregnant every year. And even though some studies have shown that the incidence of teenage pregnancy has generally been in decline since 1991, the causes and effects of underage childbearing has continued to be a big burden on families, the public and government. Babies having babies is the simplistic way that some people have described the specter of having a baby while teenager are unprepared. The United State case study which is the subject of this paper is unique, even though reflecting the same generic features with teenagers elsewhere in the world. Teenage pregnancy is a socio-economic and moral problem in the United State.
Teen Pregnancy is a very serious issue in America. There are many statistics and facts about teen pregnancy and how it is such a big problem in America. So, in my paper I want to talk about teen pregnancies and ways to prevent it. I want to explain that teen pregnancy is not the end of the world and that pregnant teens have a future. I want to also talk about my experience and how having a child at a young age changed my life in many different ways.
"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.