The Importance Of Teen Pregnancy

Teen pregnancy falls into the category of pregnancies in girls age 19 or younger (NIH). Although statistics have shown a decrease, the number of teen pregnancy in the U.S. is still relatively high compared to the rest of the world. Sexual health is one of the top priorities in early adolescence health in the United States. Consequences of having sex at a young age generally results in unsafe sex practices. The consequences can be due to the lack of knowledge about sex education, and access to birth control/contraception (NIH, 2005). Due to the lack of knowledge and access to birth control, adolescents involve in risk taking when they start to explore sexual intimate relationships.

Multiple factors influence the rate of teen pregnancy. Some of the most important factors influencing pregnancy rates are socioeconomic status, education, and family income. With low socioeconomic status and income, parents may not always be present in their children’s lives in order to educate them on sex. School districts, then, take on the responsibility to educate teenagers on sexual intercourse and safe practices, but some fail. Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. provided statistics showing that while many schools push abstinence-only programs, they show little to no positive impact on preventing teen pregnancies (Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (n.d.)). While abstinence may work for some, it is not realistic to believe that all teens will abide by it. Teens need a comprehensive sexual education with emphasis on safe sex practices, which is where Be Safe, Not Sorry comes into play. The comprehensive program will cover all

Society in general is currently addressing the social problem of teen pregnancy in several ways. One of the most important is an increase in parent’s willingness to not only bring the issue up and discuss it with their children, but also allowing educators to address the issue in schools.

Summary: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy wrote the article called, “Teen Pregnancy Is a Serious Problem,” stating that teen pregnancy is an issue in todays’ world. There are many negative effects of being a teen mom. In the United States, teen pregnancy is seen as being “ok” because it is normal in today’s world. Adolescents don't know how quickly a pregnancy can happen. When they asked the girls why they became pregnant they said, “It just kinda happened.” Also, many teen moms have more than one child before the age 24. A recent study

Each year around 90,000 adolescents become pregnant in the United States. Around 51% of adolescents pregnancies end in live births, 35% end up in induced abortions, and 14% result in miscarriage or stillbirth (Frick, 2007). Historically, the highest teen pregnancy rates in the United States were during the 1950’s and 1960’s before the legalization of abortion and the development of many the current forms of contraception(Frick, 2007). Rates enlarged steadily until 1991; since then, the birth rate among teenagers has decreased 35% for 15-17 year olds(Frick, 2007). Three in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That is nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year. In 2013, there were 26.6 births for every 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19, or 274,641 babies born to females in this age group. To prevent teen pregnancy, we should teach them abstinence, safe sex by using protection, and communication skills to discuss prevention from peer pressure.

Teenage pregnancy and disease have not only created a problem for the US in the past, but have also created a problem that the US still struggles with today. For example as early as 1988, “50% of female adolescents and 60% of male adolescents 15 to 19 years of age had engaged in sexual intercourse, more than 1 in 10 teenage girls was pregnant, and 1 in 6 sexually experienced teens had a sexually transmitted

Teen pregnancy has been a serious social issue for quite a while. Often, a teen pregnancy is detrimental for both the teen and the child involved. Both a teen mother and her child are more susceptible to complications during the pregnancy and birth than and adult mother and her child. Unfortunately, a teen mother and her infant are also less likely to pursue and receive healthcare to alleviate these health risks (Teen Pregnancy). Moreover, “teen pregnancy is often cited as a factor that perpetuates the cycle of poverty, since teen mothers are likely to be poor in the first place, and their children are likely to grow up to be poor” (Teen Pregnancy). While there is no argument that teens should be educated to prevent teen pregnancy, there is a debate on how it should be done. Currently, there are two forms of education focused on reducing teen pregnancies: abstinence-only education and comprehensive sex education with birth control. However, sex education and birth control are clearly the superior option, due to its effectiveness and the futility of abstinence-only education.

“Among American adolescent girls who have ever had intercourse, approximately one in six becomes pregnant” (Ventura et al., 2008). Teen pregnancy is an ongoing dilemma that concerns the baby, parents, and other family members. Anyone under the age of eighteen years old is considered to be a child and every year approximately 750,000 women aged fifteen to eighteen become pregnant (Guttmacher Institute, 2006). Also, teen pregnancy represents eleven percent of all births in the United States (Guttmacher Institute, 2006). The underlying cause of teen pregnancy is mainly the lack of education on sexual and reproductive health and not enough being taught about how to use contraceptives. To help educate this knowledge it is dependent on not only

About 727,000 U.S. teenage girls (12,000 of them younger than 15)-an estimated 20 percent of those who had sexual intercourse-became pregnan in the most recently reported year. Three factors heighten the incidence of adolescent pregnancy: effective sex education reaches too few teenagers, convient, low-cost contraceptive services for adolescents are scarce, and many families live in poverty, which encourages young people to take risks without considering the future implications of their behavior. Teenage parents are much more likely to be poor than those that choose to postpone parenthood. The lives of expectant teens, already troubled in many ways, tend to worsen in several aspects after the baby is born. Education is harder to attain, only about 70

In 2012, there were 29.4 births for every 1,000 females ranging from the age 15-19. This is 305,420 babies total born to females in this age group. Eighty-nine percent of these births occurred outside of marriage. The 2012 teen birth rate shows a decline of six percent from 2011 when the birth rate was 31.3 per 1,000 girls. The teen birth rate has declined pretty steadily over the past 20 years. In 1991, the teen birth rate in the U.S. was 61.8 births for every 1,000 teenage girls, compared with 29.4 births for every 1,000 females in 2012 that’s pretty good. The U.S. teen birth rate is still higher than that of many other developed countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom. Although the teenage pregnancy numbers are decreasing,

Teen pregnancy is an issue in the U. S. It is thought of as a widespread issue, which creates a problem and involves the teen mom and her parents as well. The parents’ participation is vital. It’s essential for them to remain involved and participate in the sex preventive measures of their child or children. With this involvement, a smaller quantity of teenagers would probably not be sexually active.

Teen pregnancy has several health risks to the teen mother and unborn child. Often times teen moms are scared to seek proper and prompt medical attention. Several complications have been reported, such as higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, hypertension, anemia, pregnancy induced hypertension and low maternal weight gain. There is also an increased risk of low birth weight and premature labor and delivery. According to teenage pregnancy and its obstetric outcome "Knowing the burden of pregnancy, teenagers will go a long way in advocacy and devising appropriate intervention measures" (Rao, Ramya, Batchu & Reddy, 2017). Pregnant teens need to receive proper education and health care regarding complications that can arise during pregnancy, proper nutrition, infections, and the importance of refraining from drugs and alcohol.

The reality TV series 16 and pregnant and Teen Mom are two great examples showing the

Teen pregnancy is a large concern throughout the world. This is especially true in the United States (US). In the U.S. teenage pregnancy affects 750,000 girls annually. (Silvers, 2014) According to Kate Blackman, 1 in 4 teens get pregnant before the age of twenty and 1 in 5 teen moms will have a second child by the age of twenty. (2015) Social media shows many aspects about teenage pregnancy and parenthood. Because of this many young adults get to see the reality behind this subject. Even though on the surface of a magazine cover or on the internet it may seem like teenage pregnancy is glamorized in social media, this is not the case. There are many ways that the media truly shows the struggles of being a teen mother. Since magazines are meant to entertain they will not show this but almost all other social media areas will. This helps make a statement about it. Social media helps to deglamorize and prevent teenage pregnancy.

Like Amy and Loeber (2009), when it comes to the ecological paradigm of teenage pregnancy, Corcoran, Franklin, and Bennett (2000) also believe one’s socioeconomic status is a huge factor that contributes to this problem. A person’s socioeconomic status a lot of times determines “education, expanded family size, single-parent household structure, and lessened resources in terms of employment and income.” These three authors claim that educational performance and goals “dictate the potential costs of child bearing at a young age.” Their studies have also shown that teenage girls’ relationships with the school setting and poorer performance in school serve a greater risk for adolescent pregnancy.