Essay about Teen Pregnancy

Teen pregnancy continues to be a problem in America even though the CDC documents a decrease from 2007-2009 in all racial groups. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). Reducing the number of pregnancies in teens 15-17 is a core indicator identified by Healthy People 2020 to assess the status of adolescent health. Children born to teens are at risk for health concerns from being of low birth weight and having poor prenatal care such as delayed development. (Magness, 2012). Repeat pregnancy, dependence on welfare, and poverty are some of the results of adolescent pregnancy. Teen mothers tend to have health problems such as hypertension, and anemia and are at high risk for early delivery. Magness looks at the issue from the teen’s viewpoint and discusses the idea that some teens become pregnant to provide stability in an otherwise chaotic life and can gain maturity from the experience. Emphasis on continuing their education after delivery can prevent repeat pregnancies. Lack of productive or positive social activities or guidance can leave room for a teen to indulge in risky behavior to occupy their time. Peer pressure and influence from present day norms can cause teenagers to give in to early onset of sexual activity (Kirven, 2014). Finding after school or extracurricular activities can promote a healthier self

Many studies show that MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” led to fewer teen births. It is thought to be that when teens tune into the show, they learn to practice safer sex. “16 and Pregnant” was named one of the best ways to campaign about the issue of teen pregnancy. The show was a way to attack the issue of teen pregnancy head on. Comparing to all fully developed countries, the U.S, has the highest rates of teen pregnancy. This was seen as a major problem to many that was aware of the problem. Even though the number of teen pregnancies was high, there was nothing really being done to expose the harsh reality of being a teen mom. Lauren Dolgen, President of MTV’s series development, felt as if the situation needed to be addressed. Her goal was to give teen moms out there a chance to have a voice and to tell their stories.

See a young mother the age of sixteen; with her baby living off welfare and begging for more assistants. Teen pregnancy overall is a raped on going occurrences in our society. Teen girls cannot just rely on themselves, these girls rely on their parents and/or the state. Having a child just brings more complication into their lives. To help stop this ongoing occurrences by law, the state should have to sew up the vagina of all young girls from the age twelve to twenty-five and married.

Teenage pregnancy is linked to many critical social issues, such as poverty, lack of education, out-of-wedlock births, health issues, education, child welfare, and overall child well-being. These issues have been a social problem for decades, but it wasn’t until recent years when it emerged from being social invisibility to becoming an urgent crisis. “In 1995, in his State of the Union address, President Bill Clinton singled out teenage

Teen pregnancy has become a problem over the past decade. This issue can be looked at using sociological imagination. C. Write Mills explaing the idea of sociological imagination as the ability to see the connection between personal experiences and larger society. On a personal level, teens with children experience many difficulties juggling the responsibilities of parenting, school, work, and everything else. The teenage years can be very complicated, but adding a child to the mix can really impact young men and women’s relationships, emotions, and future. Looking at this problem on a public level, society has a huge role in preventing teen pregnancies. Also, the media plays a large role in influencing teenagers to engage in sexual activities.Many

Teenage pregnancy and parenthood are often seen as strictly negative and problematic, with the moral panic surrounding them only growing as media and government play a role in perpetuating these ideas of negativity surrounding them. Though it is a contentious issue, what are often ignored are the underlying causes of the social phenomena that are teenage pregnancy and parenthood. The experiences of poverty and social exclusion by many pregnant teens and teen parents have not been proven to be more severe than what these young people were experiencing before, so it brings into question the validity of the moral panic as well as the aims of programs meant to decrease teen pregnancy and parenthood. Looking at teen pregnancy and parenthood, first

For decades teen pregnancy has been a social problem in our society. According to Paschal, Wodarski and Feit (2006), “Nearly one million teen pregnancies between the ages of 15 and 19 take place each year in the United States. A majority of the available research is focused on the teen mother.” (p.106). Even though we have seen a decrease over the past decade; teen pregnancy continues to be an issue of concern with a higher number of pregnancies seen in the African American community. The United States reports a greater number of teen pregnancies compared to other countries. In recent years, the United States has had the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy of any of the world’s developed nations (Santelli, Lindberg, Finer, and Singh, 2007).

Obviously, the minority issue is a problem with one in every four black teenage girls becoming pregnant by the time they are 18 years of age. Nearly a third of these ladies will have a second child by the time they turn 20 years of age. African-Americans and Hispanics have switched roles within the past few years, in which case Hispanics now have the highest teenage birth rate in America. Teenage mothers often decide to keep their children simply because their mothers, who were probably also teenage mothers, decided to keep them. These teenage mothers are often missing the guidance, love, and discipline that most children grow up with. Teenage mothers often have a sense of responsibility since they were often left at home to fend for themselves while their mother was at work, in which case, single mothers often have more than one job to try to support their family financially.

Teen pregnancy is a chief setback in the United States. There are drastically more teenage pregnancies in the United States than all other developed countries worldwide (Cloe & Moore, 1995). According to, The Complete and Authoritative Guide: Caring for Your Teenager, out of every five women under twenty, two will become pregnant. In 2010, the total number of pregnancies in the United States was 821,810 (84 pregnancies per 1,000 people). Weigh against Canada whose total rate of teen pregnancies for 2010 was 38,600 (38 pregnancies per 1,000 people). Many other western industrialized countries, such as Sweden and France, have even lower teen pregnancy rates than Canada. When compared to other countries, it’s easy to understand why the United

"Over one million teenage girls become pregnant each year. In the next 24 hours, about 3,312 girls will become pregnant. In addition, 43% of all adolescents become pregnant before the age of 20. These are incredible statistics when you consider that there are only 31 million females. The United States has the highest adolescent pregnancy rate in the developed world. As statistics show one in nine women between the ages of 15 through 19 become pregnant each year. Also, every 26 seconds a teenage girl becomes pregnant and every 56 seconds a child of a teenage mother is born."

Problem: Teen pregnancy results in serious and detrimental consequences for the child, teen mother, and society as a whole. Having a child during adolescence makes it harder for teens to achieve their educational, career, and life aspirations and also affects the future potential of their children at a high cost for taxpayers. Teen mothers are less likely to complete school and have a greater risk to be single parents. Only 30% of teens who get pregnant before the age of eighteen ever graduate high school. Only 1.5% of teen mothers earn a college degree by the time they are thirty ("Adolescent Pregnancy Rates."). Low levels of educational achievement by teen parents result in less employment opportunities and earnings later in life. The repercussions of dropping out of school contribute to an ongoing cycle of economic hardship that goes on for generations. More than one third of Mississippi teens under the age of eighteen lived in poverty. Because there are so many teen parents below the poverty level, the need for public assistance comes into play. In Mississippi, forty nine percent of females under the age of 18, reported receiving public benefits and food stamps. For single mothers, it is more difficult to control and direct household activities without the help of a second adult ("Impact on Education and the Economy)". According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, eighty percent of teen fathers do not marry the mother of their first

Teenage pregnancy rates have been declining in the United States, but when compared to pregnancy rates in other industrial countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom they are still relatively high. (Office of Adolescent Health, 2016). Teenage pregnancy is defined by UNICEF, as an adolescent between the ages of thirteen to nineteen becoming pregnant. (UNICEF Malaysia Communications). Teenage pregnancy is viewed as a social issue because of the way it affects a country’s economy, the mother and father’s future, the baby’s quality of life, and the parent’s extended family and community

"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.

Teen pregnancy is a very controversial social issue and the vast majority of Americans consider the outrageous rate of teen pregnancies a severe issue, certainly a problematic occurrence that is believed to be a moral decline in our country. Teenagers are physiologically capable of reproducing but not emotionally or financially prepared to be parents at such a tender age. Through various research studies a plethora of determinants has pin pointed teens unprecedented pregnancies. One cause of this problem is the apparent indication of social separation or disadvantage. Within this issue you would find poverty, single parent households, educational disadvantages on the parents behalf, a lack family/parental support, and unemployment. A child’s educational performance, inappropriate sexual acts, and inferior apprehensions about their futures play a vital role in teen pregnancies as well. Amongst the listed disadvantages the three that take precedent are lacks of family communication, sexual abuse, and poverty. Furthermore, teen mothers do not fit the ideal ideology of the normative scheduling of motherhood, therefore, ultimately resulting in negative consequences for them and society. What needs to be understood is, as to why the numbers of teens are becoming parents at such a vernal age.

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.