Negative Effects Of Teen Pregnancy

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.

Although the onset of pregnancy may occur in any teenager, some teens are at higher risk for unplanned pregnancy than others. Teenagers who become sexually active at an earlier age are at a greater risk primarily because young teenagers are less likely to use birth control. African-American and Hispanic teenagers are twice as likely to give birth as are white teenagers. Whites are more likely to have abortions. Teenagers who come from poor neighborhoods and attend segregated schools are at a high risk for pregnancy.

Many teens who end up pregnant do not finish high school and are less likely even consider going to college. Another effect of teen pregnancy is that both mother and child become apt to health issues. Infants are more likely to suffer from low birth weight and other health problems. Most teens do not have health insurance therefore it becomes harder to provide adequate healthcare for themselves and their babies. Not only are children of teen parents more likely to be unhealthy physically but sometimes emotionally as well.

“Second, teen childbearing is very costly. A 1997 study by Rebecca Maynard of Mathematica Policy Research in Princeton, New Jersey, found that, after controlling for differences between teen mothers and mothers aged 20 or 21 when they had their first child, teen childbearing costs taxpayers more than $7 billion a year or $3,200 a year for each teenage birth, conservatively estimated”. It is found that only two-thirds of children born to teen mothers graduate. “Children of teen mothers are more likely than mothers who gave birth at age 20-21 to drop out of high school. In fact, only about two-thirds of children born to teen mothers earned a high school diploma compared to 81 percent of children of later

Problems that Teenage Mothers Face What are the problems that happen to a teenage mother and why?  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.

The higher teenage pregnancy rates are, the higher child poverty appear. If this trend continues, social instabilities and the wealth gap would become bigger. In addition, fathers of the children do not often help the mothers. Clemmitt (2010) points out that 80 percent of teen fathers do not marry to the mothers of their first child; Most situations end up with single mothers raising the child, and sometimes a mother has more than three children. The economic and social pressure on teenage mothers are enormous, and the pressure would finally “destroy her life”, thus it leads to serious health

In 2010, teen pregnancy and childbirth accounted for at least $9.4 billion in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increase health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers (www.cdc.gov). Financial difficulty may arise during a teen pregnancy or after the baby is born. Babies need a lot of needs, from diapers, bottles, clothes, and many more, teens don’t understand that sex will change your life for the worst or better. Teens who do not have full-time employment may struggle to cover the basic expenses of life upon having a baby (Trouble, livestrong.com). A teenager may suffer an emotional crisis if she becomes pregnant and does not want the baby.

Even though some people say shows such as ’16 and pregnant’ and ‘Teen Mom’ glamorize teen pregnancies, the rate of teen births have dropped even more since the television shows have aired in 2009. The shows show the challenges and struggles that come with getting pregnant at a young age, while still juggling high school. Between 1991 and 2008 teen pregnancy was dropping 2.5 % per year. Between 2010 and 2014 the rate has been dropping 7.5 % per year, and increasing. One in six 15 year old females will give birth by her 20th birthday.

That’s almost 650,000 teen pregnancies each year. In order to lower the rates in the United States, it is important to first understand the causes and effects of teen pregnancy. One of the main causes of teenage pregnancy is lack of knowledge. Studies show that teenagers who are uneducated about

In 2009, more than 400,000 of children from teen births were in foster care (Lieberman, 2014). Teens mother are more likely to experience financial hardship and have to struggle to provide financial support for their children (Lieberman, 2014). According to Dorlisa and Shandler (2011) “Teenage pregnancy and childbearing are social concerns because of economic and social cost” (p. 241). In United States, on average every teen mom age 17 and under costs taxpayers $4,080 yearly (Dorlisa and Shandler, 2011). Also, majority of teen mothers are under-paid; they earn $6,500 yearly making them dependent on public assistance (Dorlisa & Shandler, 2011).