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teenage pregnancy as a social issue
teenage pregnancy as a social issue
consequences of teenage pregnancy on society
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The Negative Effects of Teen Pregnancy On the Teen, Society, and the Family When teen’s get pregnant do they really know the consequences and the changes that it causes their bodies to go through? Most teens go into their pregnancy blind to the fact that they are helping another human being be brought into this world. I have a best friend, who is more like my sister, that had a baby in high school. She struggled to graduate. She ended up having to drop out because it became too much for her to handle. She had to give up numerous things along with school. She had to give up marching band, softball, and hanging out with most of her friends. She was an honor roll student and she always seemed to “never make mistakes”. She was crushed when …show more content…
With this issue the teens tend to earn less money than those who have graduated and have went to college. This causes the children of the teen parent’s to struggle to keep up with their school peers. Teen mothers face the struggle of earning less money than those who waited to have their babies at a later time. It is found that teen mom’s, who have had babies at the age of seventeen or younger, make twenty-eight thousand dollars less after fifteen years of giving birth. In the next generation, the daughters of the teen mothers are three times more likely to become teen mothers themselves. Also in this generation, only forty percent of teen mothers who give birth at the age of seventeen or earlier actually finish high school; and twenty three percent of the younger moms go on to retain a GED ( A Baby Changes Everything: The True Cost of Teen Pregnancy’s …show more content…
Sometimes teen moms decide to not go to college and focus more on the baby or their plans to get married. Teen pregnancy statistics state that only one third of teen moms can even acquire the high school diploma and only a few get a college degree. The government plan welfare schemes to take care of teen mothers and their children. The low-qualified mother cannot get a good job and she completely depends on the state to overcome the financial distress. The annual expenses to fund the teen pregnancies cost around seven billion dollars. The government has to spend money on public assistance, child health care, and foster care to facilitate proper raising of the child. The teen mothers who do not receive proper financial support from her parents or her friends have to face a severe financial crunch. She has to face extreme difficulty to buy basic items for her newborn baby such as clothing and baby care products. Due to the lack of social support, the mother will suffer from huge emotional crisis due to lack of social support. She will deal with severe emotional and mental breakdowns that trigger the onset of unusual behavior like suicide attempts or attempting self-abortion. Many studies have concluded that teenage pregnancy directly affects teenage drug addiction rates ( 11 Negative Side Effects of Teen Pregnancy On
Teen pregnancy is surprisingly decreasing over the years. According to Farber, “the most recent studies have shown that there has been a decrease in the rate of pregnancies among all teenagers and among sexually active teenagers (16). Although this issue seems is decreasing this is still a problem faced by many teenage girls today. Each year, 7.5 percent of all 15-19 year old women become pregnant (Maynard 1). Not only does this issue affects the pregnant teen but it also affects the economy. Teen pregnancy affects graduation rates. Many teen mothers cite pregnancy as the key reason of them not finishing school. Only 40 percent of teen mothers finish high school (Teen Pregnancy Affects Graduation Rates). The 60 percent of teen mothers that do not finish high school not only influence their future, but the future of their unborn baby. The best solution to help teen pregnancy become obsolete and save many teenagers futures is abstinence. Abstinence is the best solution because this solution has four advantages such as, it has the highest effectiveness, it teaches other important life skills, it aids teens in school and it halts the spread of STDs among adolescents.
The past two decades have shown a decline in adolescent pregnancy but today, the United States continues to hold the number one position for highest adolescent pregnancy rates among developed countries.1 Research has found that about two in every five teenage girls become pregnant before the age of twenty years old.2 The recurrence of early childhood bearing now reaches up to 900,000 pregnancies each year in the United States.1 The various factors associated with high prevalence of teenage motherhood can be seen among communities affected by low socioeconomic status, a lack of education, and more interestingly, a new found correlation between the history of intergenerational, teenage childhood bearing with the family.2 Communities facing these problems continue to sustain such high statistical values for teenage pregnancy and have created a vicious cycle which is then adopted by following generations. Adolescent pregnancy not only creates a toll on the family, but also has adverse health effects on the child and society.
Being a parent at an early age makes lives of those teens and also their parents a struggle. Dreams of a great future goes down the drain and saving money for clothes and those one shoes you wanted, does also. Most parents already realize what all comes with taking care of a baby by experience however, when their child becomes pregnant as a teen, life is filled with so much disappointment. Expenses of a baby are extremely high and many of the parents of the pregnant teens have to help financially. The average cost of caring for a child in its first year of life is $10,158 (Rivera). When taking care of a baby you have to deal with the cost of formula, baby wipes, diapers, clothing and housing plus the things you need to take care of yourself comfortably adds up, which pregnant teens than rely on their parents for their assistance to take care of the baby. Than the parents who can’t afford another responsibility began to stress witch than stresses out the teens. Two out of three teen mothers never graduate from high school. Education is extremely important and without one, many teens will not get far. Without and education, it’s harder to get a job that will pay what is needed to support a family. According to many a baby born now will cost a middle-class family $170,460 to raise through age 17. Many teens are not in the right place in their career, if they
Teenagers who become mothers have harsh prospects for the future. Teenagers obtaining abortions are 20% and girls under 15 accounts for 1.2%. They are much more likely to leave of school; receive insufficient prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or en...
Throughout generations, teen pregnancy has been an alarming social issue that has been a concerning in the American race. Becoming a teen parent brings obstacles such as, lower expectations of graduating high school, not being able to attend college and decrease of success rate in the job industry. Obstacles in raising a child cannot only harm the adolescent childbearing mother but the child as well. Moreover, research has found that children of teens have a worse cognitive and behavioral outcome than older mothers (Teen pregnancy). Studies have found that the reason to these psychological problem is the result of the mother not being economically stable. The absence of a comforting income can cause many teen parents to rely on aid given
A major risk factor as to why many teenage mothers live in poverty is because they drop out of high-school, “fewer than 38 percent get a high school diploma and another 19 percent get a GED, and only 5% of young teen mothers complete at least two years of college by age 30 and less than 2% obtain a college degree.” (Stewart Ng and Kaye, 2012a, p.1; Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, 2008, p.10) ". Therefore, these mothers will not get a well-paying job to raise their child.
When parents of pregnant teens first find out that their child is pregnant they probably experience a wide range of emotions, from shock and disappointment to grief and worry about the future. this can then turn into rejection or anger. on the other hand others are happy about the news of a soon-to-be grandchild — especially if the teen is older and in a mature relationship. According to Kidshealth.org, some teens are terrified of hearing they are pregnant and will wait as long as possible to tell their parents out of fear of the unknown. they fear that when telling them, the parents will lash out or immediately reject the truth and get mad. instead though, most parents after given time to let the news sink in are willing to help their teen go through the process of pregnancy and are supportive of the teen. the sooner a teen does tell their parents about the pregnancy the greater the chances are of the baby growing up to be healthy and worry free because the parents can get the teen the necessary doctors appointments needed to insure the babies health.
The topic of teen pregnancy has been studied in a variety of areas, but much of the research focuses on the teen mother. The actions of teen’s attitude and decision to have unprotected sex or engaging in a sexually activity affects more than themselves, but the public as a whole. Teen’s action have financial consequences for the country as it increases the cost to care for teens based on their inability to be self-sufficient. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (NCPTP) (2005) reports that teenage pregnancy cost taxpayers $9.1 billion in 2004 alone. The cost included $1.9 billion in increased public sector health care costs, and $2.3 billion in increased child welfare costs.
The female teen stares into the eyes of her newborn son, not realizing the type of life her and her son will have in the near future. Katrina L. Burchett excellently explicates teenage pregnancy among female adolescents living with domestic problems in her book titled Choices. The various elements that aid to the wide range of teenage pregnancies in the world should all be taken in to consideration. Getting pregnant at an adult is no longer substantial or conventional in our society. Everyday, female young adults are getting pregnant, which is why it is a social issue for the youth today.
The Disruption from school affect the future life of teenage mothers as having a low education cause the chance of getting a job to be low this results in poor economic status(Macleod ;1990).It has been found that the teenage mothers has to face the reality that she is the only one who provide care to her child. It has also been found that the family of the teenage mother way of living affects her education process. The teenage that lives in a family with strong academic background tend to continue schooling compared to mature mother have low academic level (Kerlman 1993:555).The teenage mother also do drop out of school due to rejection from their surroundings at school this make it difficult for the teenage mother to be willing to go back to school in such circumstances (Camarena et al; 1998&Smith Battle; 2007; Yardte
Many teens don’t realize how much money it actually cost to raise a baby. And in many cases, teen parents don’t finish school or are still in school, which ultimately realistically can’t get a well-paid job. Studies have shown that just the first year raising a baby cost between $10,000-12,500, and as the child grows the expenses only increase each year. The amount of money a child requires does not equate to the minimum wage jobs teens are able to acquire. The financial strain can affect both the child and the teen parent. The child can be deprived and the mother may not be able to provide the resources to raise a healthy child and also feed herself. Along with the emotional stress, troubling finances are another of the top factors why teen parents drop out of high school. The financial aspect to the issue many times forces teens to leave school to seek jobs and find a source of income. For teens that are fortunate enough to have their parent 's support it can also put a strain on their parents finances. The overall issue of teen pregnancy can cause financial hard ache for everyone including, parents of teens, the teen parents themselves, and even
A number of teens do not want to become pregnant, although some are not opposed and other has ambivalent attitudes (Bruckner, Martin, & Bearman, 2004, p. 535-557). Therefore having a healthy understanding of factors associated with a desire for pregnancy among teens, health care providers may better predict the most at risk teens. Many teenagers from the age of 15-19 carry mixed feelings concerning childbirth. Although the optimistic teens increase the risk to unprotected sex, and some were negative against the spectrum to protect against early pregnancy. A careful details study on attitudes indicates a small number of adolescents embraced pregnancy in the future; a large group of teenagers is unsure about becoming pregnant.
Teen pregnancy is a common issue among teenage girls. It changes the future of most teens. It brings them straight into the life of mother and father hood. This completely takes them out of their teenage years. I know a few teen moms and some of them are still succeeding in school and some of them aren’t. School is already stressful enough. I can’t imagine having to add a baby into the equation. Most of them don’t get the chance to go to college and have fun like the rest of us do. They have to stay at home and work to take care of their child. Financial instability often results from having a child early. Most of the babies born to teens moms are born into impoverish states. Teen pregnancy is extremely preventable. I believe
Babies are born more likely to be born premature and/or suffer low birth weight. There are a lot of problems involved with children having children. There is a higher risk of low birth rate, premature labor, and stillbirth. The problem is teenage girls are not done growing and fully maturing, there for, when they become pregnant it induces problems not only on the baby but the mother as well. *A general rule: The younger the mother, the greater risk of complications for both the mother and child. Often pregnant teenage mothers deny the fact that they are indeed pregnant, therefor ignoring the proper care that she needs for the growing baby inside of her. There are no easy answers; that’s one thing that everyone agrees on when it comes to the problem of teen pregnancy. The Center of Disease Control and prevention affirmed on June 26 what other agencies, such as the National Center for Health Statistics, have been saying over the course of this year: “The teen pregnancy rate is dropping. The number of teenage girls across the country who became pregnant fell 12 percent between 1991 and 1996. This drops affects girls, of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds, in all states. But the problem remains; The U.S. teen pregnancy rate is the highest of any industrialized countries. Babies born in the U.S. to teenager mothers are at risk for long-term problems in many major areas of life, including school failure, poverty, and physical or mental illness. The teenage mothers themselves are also at risk for these problems.
The concept of comprehensive social intervention has been defined as the process of identifying social problems in an attempt to eradicate them. In looking at the broad range of social characteristics and the behavior associated with teen pregnancy, it is obvious that the emphases placed on the effort to recognize and alleviate teen pregnancy can be celebrated through the effectiveness of education, family planning, and abstinence. However, the attempt to analyze and deal with the cause-and-effect relationship with teen pregnancy is an attempt in understanding the social world itself. In 2006, statistics show that there was a significant increase in teen pregnancy after a decade long decrease. The potential for understanding this increase motivates us to look beyond simple explanations for cause-and-effect behavior and to look at what interactions may be occurring between variables that result in specific behaviors or social conditions. What is it that influences behavior? In looking at teen pregnancy in the realm of the family, it is evident that a large number of family structures have evolved, or perhaps devolved, into a variety of combinations which challenge responsible parents to consistently expose their children to the role models and the types of behaviors that are important for their children to emulate as they mature. People are molded by circumstances and experiences, all of which can positively or negatively influence our behavior.