I suppose no one ever really expects things to happen to them until they actually happen. At least, that’s how I viewed things until I got pregnant with my first and only child at fifteen years old. It’s almost exactly the way they portray it in Hollywood movies and television shows and books. Although, unlike those books and shows, I never lost any friends from this experience. I will say that people are much more understanding nowadays. Still, no one is ever really ready to be a mom, especially at fifteen. Statistics say that seven out of ten girls that get pregnant while still in high school will drop out. Seventy percent of girls will drop out of school. In 2013, 273,105 babies were born to girls aged 15-19. That’s a terrifying number, but teen pregnancy rates are lower than ever before. Being part of the thirty percent that made it through high school, I will say one thing: the reason I made it through all four years (that’s right, there was never a moment of my high school career in which I was never a parent) was because I never saw myself doing anything else. The opportunity for school was always there. I was and still am one of the lucky few that have the opportunity for education, unlike many other countries where girls are condemned from schooling. I always knew I was going to college, and sure enough, I am the first person in my immediate family to attend a four-year university. My mother got pregnant at seventeen years old and had to drop out of high school.
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.
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
For many years teen pregnancy has been a national social problem. Views have changed over the years as society has started to adapt to the thought of teen pregnancy. “Growing evidence suggests that pre-existing academic and economic hardships play a role in the continuing struggles of teen mothers. While 85% of young women who delay having their first child until at least twenty or twenty – one obtain a high school diploma or GED, only 63% of mothers who give birth by age seventeen do so” (Crosson- Tower p255)
Teen pregnancy is a global problem, it affects all demographics, but certain populations are at greater risk. Statics show that African-American and Hispanic teenage women in the Unites States have the highest birthrates. Inconsistent research of young African American women is at a greater risk of becoming teenage mothers; the culture may contribute to this trend, though the complex relationships (Furstenberg, 1992; Geronimus, 2003; Sullivan, 1993).
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.”).
Teen pregnancy has always been a widespread problem in the United States. In America, there are almost 615,000 women aged 15-19 that become pregnant every year ("American Teens' Sexual Health"). Fortunately, the rate of teen pregnancies in the United States has decreased over the past 20 years ("American Teens' Sexual Health"). This is primarily because more teenagers are using contraceptives when they are having sex. The Guttmacher Institute reports that the use of contraceptives when having sex by females has risen from 48% in 1982 to 78% in 2006-2008 ("American Teens' Sexual Health"). Also, condom use during first sex has largely increased due to the AIDS epidemic ("American Teens' Sexual Health"). As a result, although teen pregnancy is
Teen pregnancy in the United States is a continuing outbreak. We all may not realize that we are all affected by teenage pregnancy it is not just the girl giving birth. Teen pregnancy is not something that is just shunned upon in the US but something that affects our taxes too. We all sit back and let early pregnancy continue and do nothing to put a stop to it because we are all unsure of why it is happening. Some may argue that Title X is something that should be demolished. Is it because we as society are unsure of what Title X does? It is now that we learn what our government tries to provide us to keep the rate of teen pregnancy down. The United States is one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy worldwide. Today is where our opinions
Teen pregnancy prevention is one of the most controversial subjects in today’s society. Many will argue that peer pressure and the area you live in are contributing factors to most adolescent pregnancies. No matter what geographic location you reside in, the problem is usually in the home, in the school system, and the cost of contraception and the barriers in obtaining it. The biggest predicament regarding the issue of adolescent pregnancy is the question of prevention. Preventing teen pregnancy includes problems such as the availability of birth control, sexual education among children and adolescents, and parental involvement.
As a young mother times get tough. Teen parents have it a little harder than teens that who are without children. Being a teen parent can affect you in many different ways. How do I know? I’m a teen mom who’s still in school trying to get a diploma. I became pregnant at the age of 14 in the 8th grade. Gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who goes by the name Rodney at the age of 15, but yet I’m still in school trying to make some of myself and give my son a better life than I had growing up as a child. Being young and not having that mother figure who shows you everything is bit of a challenge. But don’t get me wrong my mother was and still is an amazing mother. By her dealing with five kids and one staying in
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.”
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.
The United States remains the highest unintended teen pregnancy rate among all developed countries. Teenagers are at the vulnerable age where their hormone peaks causing secondary sex characteristic changes, yet there is a lack of support and access for teens get help (Patel et al., 2016). The consequence of teen pregnancy can lead to physical, psychosocial, socioeconomic, and societal detriments, which can cause a ripple effect onto the next generation. Child bearing during adolescence is associated with adverse outcomes such as: maternal and fetal health risk, infected with sexual transmitted diseases, more often face poverty, and the loss of social and economic opportunities as a result of less formal education (Krugu, Mevissen, Prinsen, Ruiter, 2016). This paper will elaborate teens’ experience on sex health, nurses’ role in this phenomenon, and key findings in literatures. Ultimately, finding the meaning of how does families of adolescents with a close relationship and open communication perceives sex education and pregnancy.
The issue of teen pregnancy is a fact that can no longer be overlooked in terms of its magnitude in the society today. Despite the widespread sex education and peer counseling and guidance, there still is a wide prevalence of teen pregnancy, a challenge that does not only affect the teenagers but the society at large.
Teenage pregnancy is a major concern in today’s society; there are many factors in a teen’s life that can cause pregnancy. In addition, multiple challenges and hardships will come with teenage pregnancy not only for the female, but also for the male. Being a parent is very demanding and can be hard. The difficulties that come with an unplanned teenage pregnancy can have profound effects on their life. Their physical, mental, and emotional health will be affected by the sudden news that they will be responsible for taking care of a child in the upcoming months. Teens affected by an unplanned pregnancy will need to give up many things in order to become a parent. In addition, they will have to take on more responsibilities that come along
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.