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 a major issue in society today. In 2010, an estimated 614,400 U.S. teenagers became pregnant, approximately 89,300 had miscarriages, and 157,500 had legal abortions. Teens are having unprotected sex without knowing the consequences of the choices that the are making. Teens believe that sex is something new that they can try, so they can be popular like their peers. These accusations are wrong, having unprotected sex has major consequences, and by having unprotected sex these teens could be changing their lives forever. Who is to fault for these teen pregnancies? Is in the parents fault, the teens fault or is it our communities fault all together? I believe providing more information and awareness about teen pregnancy in our schools and community will reduce the number of teen pregnancies.
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...
As everyone knows, teen pregnancy rate is increasing more and more each day and someone needs to do something to try and either stop it or decrease it dramatically. Teen pregnancy is causing dramatic population increase and that’s just common sense. Teens getting pregnant at such a young age is also causing poverty levels to go up more and more. Mississippi Spent over $100 million on teen pregnancy alone in the year 2010 (“Teen Pregnancy”). Just think of what it is now. More teens are dropping out of school and not finishing their education. According to the authors of this article, “approximately 30 percent of teen mothers have mothers who dropped out of high school, 40 percent have mothers who are mothers who dropped out of high school, 40 percent have mothers who are high school graduates, and 30 percent have mothers who attended college”(Kearny et al 143). Many people don’t realize that there are many effects of teen pregnancy including higher risk of birth defect, more likely to drop out, and also abortion rates increase.
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.
Imagine juggling the stress of graduating high school and the stress of embracing parenthood at the same time. “In 2009, six pregnant teens allowed MTV to film their pregnancies in the hopes that youngsters watching the resultant show--16 and Pregnant-- would learn from their mistakes and wait to start families” (Dockterman 1). This is the reality for many teens today. According to the March of Dimes, about three in ten teenage girls become pregnant before the age of twenty. (Slocum 1). MTV hosts many different tv shows like Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. In broadcasting the lifestyles of young teenage mothers, these shows also allow others to see the struggles that the young teen mothers face preparing for and caring for a baby. While many
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
In America, one million teenagers get pregnant every year (National Abortion Federation, 2003). Of these pregnancies, 78% are unplanned because these teenagers start having sex at a very young age and are unaware of ways to prevent pregnancies. Thirty-five percent of the pregnant teenagers chose to abort, as they fear that the consequences of the pregnancy might have significant effects on their lives. The problems that come with teenage pregnancies include dropping out of school, receiving inadequate prenatal care, developing health problems, relying on public assistance to raise a child, and probably divorcing their partners. In most states, the law allows pregnant teenagers to take their babies for adoption without consulting their parents.
Teenage parenthood is by no means a new social phenomenon. Historically, women have tended to begin childbearing during their teens and early twenties. During the past two decades the U. S. teenage birthrate has actually declined (Polit and others, 1982). In the late 1950s, 90 out of 1000 women under 20 gave birth as compared with 52 out of 1000 in 1978. Several factors contribute to the current attention focused on teenage pregnancy and parenthood.
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.
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.
Teen marriage is commonly associated with low education, because, “women who marry before the age nineteen are fifty percent more likely to drop out of high school,” (Dahl, 2010). Similarly, fewer than two percent of teens who are engaged in marriage graduate from college. This is an effect caused by the women having fulfill her brand new responsibilities of a wife and mother. With this knowledge, it can be linked that high school drop outs do not meet the requirements of standard minimum wage jobs; therefore, teens in marriage tend to have jobs that pay below minimum wage or not have jobs at all. This does nothing but drive the poverty and unemployment rate. Low education and low wages increases the poverty rate and the amount of children receiving state assistance, which ultimately damages society. Consequently, teen marriage should be seen as crude because of the strain it puts on society and the teens
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
Teen Pregnancy is when a person less than 20 years old has a child. 273,105 babies were born to women aged 15-19 in 2013. There was a birth rate of 26.5 percent of babies per 1000 girls in this age group in 2013 (Teen Pregnancy in the United States par.1).The rate has never been this low and it’s dropped 10% since 2012 (Teen Pregnancy in the United States par.1) Public health and significant health issues have a huge impact on teen pregnancy. African American and Hispanic teens account for 57% of teen pregnancy. Caucasian Americans have the lowest percentage of teen pregnancy (Disparities in Teen Birth Rates par.2). Only 50% of teen moms get their high school diploma by age 22 instead of 90% of women who don’t have children in their teenage years (The Importance of Prevention par 2.). Diapers, formula, clothes, and other baby items are extremely expensive. Children might look cute, but they cost a lot of money. You have to pay for doctors’ visits and other expenses. Then trying to take care of a baby, work, and go to school is a lot of one person. Yes, I know adults do it, but we are talking about people who haven’t even finished growing yet themselves. Trying to study with a crying baby isn’t an enjoyable
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.
When you think of teen pregnancy, you probably think that there isn’t a positive thing you could say about it. Actually, there is one big thing people can get out of teen pregnancy, better education about sex and pregnancy. There are many things that contribute to this issue, shows like sixteen and Pregnant and Teen Mom are glamorizing teen pregnancy, which is actually a big issue and the blame should be placed on the parents and media.