Teen Pregnancy and Graduation Rates

Mothers who performed poor in academic and have a lower educational level can both play as risks factor in teen pregnancy. According to Finer & Zolna (2014), the percentage of pregnancies for those who are not high school graduates yet had the highest percentage of unintended pregnancies. This statistic of those who are not high school graduates yet were compared to high school graduates, some colleges, associates and college graduates. The percentage of unintended pregnancy in not high school graduates were 54% compared to 31% of those who have college degrees. The results showed that the number of unintended and intended pregnancies in not high school graduates and high school graduates keep on increasing from 2001-2008, while the number of unintended and intended pregnancies in college degrees keep on decreasing from 2001-2008.

Girls who gave birth while still in high school only 38% of them graduate. The reason the rest of them drop out is since they are forced to work in order to support their child. Nearly all cannot manage parenthood, school, work without family or friends help. With teenage mothers “Their children showed reduced educational attainment, had more emotional and behavioral problems, were at increased risk of maltreatment or harm, and showed higher rates of illness, accidents and injuries.” (Dennison P. 6) Just in the state of Texas, in 2012, there were 44 births per 1,000 girls’ state wide. Nationwide 50% of pregnancies are accidental in 2006. Teen parents also are a financial load to society, According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, in 2004, all together taxpayers paid more than eight billion dollars to help support health cares designed to help the 420,000 teenage mothers who gave birth in that year. “results from economic analyses suggest that implementing evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs, expanding access to Medicaid family planning services, and utilizing mass media campaigns to promote safe sex may reduce teen pregnancy and save taxpayer dollars.” (Without the help of drugs like Plan B or any type of birth control, a large amount of teenage girls will become unplanned mothers, making more of a financial burden to society.

    A new challenge has overcame this generation of society. Keeping teen-moms in school and graduating with a degree, is a circumstance the community should risk fighting for. This generation of humans, the thought of sexual activity is more common and there are higher risks of producing a baby. The importance of keeping pregnant teenagers in high school, is so influential for their education and their future career. Becoming a new mom would lead to new stressful situations, which may cost them to quit high school and get a job to care for their newborn. Having new ideas and ways to prevent dropout rates from increasing, could just save their education. There are some strategies that are more common in high schools today,

Teens end up getting sexually transmitted diseases because they are unaware of the consequences of unprotected sex. No abstinence-only program affected the incidence of unprotected vaginal sex (The Australian). Annually 3 million teenagers contract STDs from their partner (Robert Rector). Teens who have early sex not only suffer from STDs, they also have emotional and physical damage. Research shows that young people who become sexually

There are many more responsibilities that teens have to deal with like fact that in most families both parents work and the older kids are left being the parent to their brothers and sisters or their parents are divorced and this causes a lot more problems in their home lives. These teens are expected to take on responsibilities that they are not ready for, and this can cause added stress and depression. When depressed, many people can not find a way to be happy. When people are unhappy with their lives and can not make themselves happy, they think of other ways to relieve their pain, and suicide, along with drug use, is becoming a more common way to end ones pain. For homosexual teens there are far more problems that they have to deal with in their every-day lives.

The reason why STD's are so high among the youth is that some of the tactics don’t work as well as we would like. A big contributor is the scare tactic, where a parent or educator shows you the worst-case scenario of an

Asking about someone’s sexual history or insisting on using condoms both require much confidence. This article suggests that many adolescents are not unknowledgeable about the risks of STDs and ways to avoid them. Many adolescent feel that partners may not be cooperate with prevention strategies. Also, many adolescents do not take the proper precautions to prevent STDs because of social status and preconceived notions that someone may or may not have an STD. Having multiple sexual partners was perceived as cool for males, and this made males more desirable for females. While many females felt they would not fit in if they were not being sexually active. This information alone provides a need for teaching.

The continuous rising health anxieties for the United States, adolescence is the increasing rate of teenagers that are going through an outburst with diverse sexual transmitted diseases. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections that you can get from having sexual intercourse with someone who has the infection(s) and or are creating one through that exposing period. “The causes of STDs are surrounded by multiple bacteria, parasites and viruses invading the areas used during intercourse, such as oral, anal and through regular sexual encounters. There are more than 20 types of STDs” (Nursingceu), including the following: Hepatitis, Chlamydia, Herpes, Scabies, Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, Genital Warts, Public Lice and Pelvic Inflammatory

Sexually transmitted diseases show in a society of teenagers that are having premarital sex, because teenagers have so many different sex partners. Therefore, a result to teenagers having sex is the different disease which is becoming more common in the teenage population. Because, for this is that the teenagers don not know how to use the different birth control methods. Many teenagers believe that the pill or condoms stop the spread of AIDs, other diseases, and herpes so, the contraceptives do not prevent these diseases from spreading. Three million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers are reported each year. (www.helpme.com)

Not only will birth control decrease risk for disease and teen pregnancy, it will increase the rate of teens receiving a high school diploma. Teenage girls are more at risk of dropping out if they become pregnant; however, if they had birth control, a higher quantity would not get pregnant and drop out. Saras Chung, author of “New Study Links Teen Pregnancy and Dropout, Spotlight Solutions,” asserts, “Teen pregnancy and high school dropouts are linked.” This expert opinion displays that vital consequences are linked to teen pregnancy. Chung also listed some statistics in the same article. She affirms, “One in three teen mothers earned neither a diploma nor a GED” (Chung). Some teenage mothers do not go on

Pregnancy and birth have been a significant contributor to high school dropout rates. Adolescents who are enrolled in school and are engaged in learning, participating in class, are involved in after school activities, and have a positive attitude toward school are less likely than other adolescents to have or mother or father a baby. The children of teenage mothers are more likely to have lower school achievement and to drop out of high school, have more health problems, and face unemployment as a young adult (17Ce). Adolescents with mothers who gave birth as a teen and whose mother only has a high school diploma, are more likely to have a baby before the age 20 than those whose mothers were older at their birth and who attended college (HHS). Less than 2% of teen mom actually earn a college degree by 30 years old (DoSomething.org).

Teen pregnancy is an epidemic that has swept our nation for many years. It can alter the lives of teenagers in extreme measures. It is almost normal to see a teenager with a baby in today’s society. Getting pregnant while you’re a teen will definitely cause you to have to change your life style to accompany a child. This could mean not going to school or potentially dropping out of school permanently. Teen pregnancy will have a negative effect on the education of the teenager because it will force them to be committed full time to the concerns and needs of the child.

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.

In addition, unprotected sex is the result of many STDS and the cause of millions of deaths. 1 in 4 sexually active teens become infected with an STD every year.

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.