Adolescence can be a time filled with uncertainty and excitement. Boys and girls alike worry about their looks, grades, peer pressure, dating, and their futures. When sex is added to the mix, another layer of anxiety or concern can bring about more complications to an already overwhelmed teen. The consequences of becoming sexually active during adolescence can include pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and depression.
One obvious consequence teens face when they become sexually active is pregnancy. Pregnancy at any age can be taxing on the body, and spirit. However, adding in a third factor-lack of maturity in most adolescents-can create a disastrous combination. According to an article titled Teen Pregnancy: Overview, Consequences of Teen Pregnancy, found on Women’s Health Channel, the health risks associated with teenage pregnancy can be severe.
“Teen pregnancy is an important issue. There are health risks for the baby and children born to teenage mothers are more likely to suffer health, social, and emotional problems. Women who become pregnant during their teens have an increased risk for complications, such as premature labor and socioeconomic consequences as well” (Teen Pregnancy, 2009)
Despite a noticeable decline in US teen pregnancy rates from 1991 to 2005 (from 60 out of 1000 teenagers in 1991 to 40.5 out of 1000 in 2005), more recent years-2006 and 2007-have seen an increase in these numbers. In addition, statistics show that roughly one-third of teens in the United States become pregnant, and more than 80% of these pregnancies are not intentional. More alarming facts indicate that almost 1 million teenage girls become pregnant every year in the United States, and among those teens who give birth, almos...
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Works Cited
Center for Disease Control. (2003) Most Teens Not Provided STD or Pregnancy Prevention
Counseling During Check-Ups. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/stdconference/2000/media/Teens2000.htm
Johnson, K., Ph.D., Noyes, L.R., & Rector, Robert E. (2003) Sexually Active Teenagers Are
More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved
from http://www.heritage.org/research/abstinence/cda0304.cfm
Sexual Activity-Consequences of Adolescent Sexual Behavior. (2009) Retrieved from
http://social.jrank.org/pages/567/Sexual-Activity-Consequences-Adolescent-
Sexual-Behavior.html
Meier, A. (2007) Teen Sex and Depression Study Finds Most Teens’ Mental Health Unaffected
by Nonmarital Sex. Science Daily. Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070523113756.htm
First off, an unplanned pregnancy has physical effects on a teen. The abdominal area will enlarge and in effect, there will be weight gain. This causes teens to buy totally new wardrobes. In addition there are effects that aren’t as visual. Pregnant women may experience exhaustion and weariness. Furthermore, a change in appetite may be experienced.
From experience, many teenage girls find the need to feel wanted. When they get lonely they want some kind of attention any way they can get it. Some turn to violence or drugs, but more commonly they turn to some kind of sexual action. Another reason teens start to have sex at such a young age is obviously puberty. Their starting to have changes in their hormones and their body is starting to develop more. Children are getting younger and younger when they start to be involved in sexual activity. In the year 2012, over 4,500 births among girls was aged 15 through 19, which means that over 10 babies were born every day (“Teen
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 birth rate among teens in the United States has declined 9% from 2009 to 2010, a historic low among all racial and ethnic groups, with the least being born in 2010; and in 2011 the number of babies born to adolescents aged 15-19 years of age was 329,797 (“Birth Rates for U.S.”, 2012). Although the decline in unwanted and unplanned teen births is on the rise the United States continues to be among the highest of industrialized countries facing this problem. This is a prevailing social concern because of the health risks to these young mothers as well as their babies. Teens at higher risk of becoming pregnant are raised at or below the poverty level by single parents; live in environments that cause high levels of stress (i.e., divorce, sexual psychological and physical abuse); are influenced by peers or family members that are sexually active; and lack parental guidance that would direct them to be responsible and self-controlled.
Teen sex leads to teen pregnancy early teen pregnancy is very common worldwide. I strongly disagree with this activity because although teen pregnancy leads to many consequences, it’s also very harmful on their bodies, and most teen parents don’t have the right financial support.
It has been said that teens across the world have not been receiving enough sex education. This has led to many issues with teens becoming pregnant, which most of the time is unanticipated. Teenage pregnancy has been a social problem throughout the world for a number of decades now. Many studies have been completed in several countries that pertain to the amount of teens and the types of teens who are becoming pregnant. Rates among teens had been declining for some time, but are starting to take a turn and increase. This is still a significant social problem, though some people do not perceive it like it is.
Although the rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States has declined greatly within the past few years, it is still an enormous problem that needs to be addressed. These rates are still higher in the 1990's than they were only a decade ago. The United State's teenage birthrate exceeds that of most other industrialized nations, even though American teenagers are no more sexually active than teenagers are in Canada or Europe.
Informing the adolescents of abstinence-only does not educate them of the risks associated with sexual behavior. Providing our adolescents of a more precise sex education program, that includes curriculum on contraceptive, STDs, better communication skills, risky sexual behavior, abstinence, the outcome of teen pregnancy, and include activities that focus on career goals, could reduce the rate of teen pregnancies and protect our adolescents’ health.
Teen pregnancy, it’s one of the growing problems in today’s society. Teens today have more problems than ever, and in many cases the parents mistake signs of the problems for mere puberty phase. Beginning problem, which often trigger the others, seem to be families. Deeply religious families are most often heavily strict, and that prevents the teenagers to be informed about real life and what are they getting into. When that kind of person gets in a situation where his or her peers are more experienced then them, the outcome is a pressure. During the puberty the teenagers, especially males, are having problems with controlling their needs. It is easy to get pregnant for today’s teenagers, because they face many unbearable problems.
Aggleton shows teens the truth about sex instead of something seen as romantic and a risk, and they seeing themselves as people who are experimenting with new things. However, to others it is not a sign of romance but a risk that keeps haunting teenagers with AIDS and pregnancy. Even though young people are stereotyped as being more negative when it comes to the issue of sex, not all teenagers are that concerned with it. The author states more teenagers are looking at the outcome of having sex and thinking about the STD issue. Another issue is sex when it comes to parties and drugs. It seems that more and more girls are not getting the necessary understandings of the risks of sex, therefore having it at a younger age. While males are having sex for reasons just to try it out, or because they think they are cool. So the problem is teens are having sex for the wrong reasons without looking into the consequences.
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.
In conclusion teen pregnancy has hard an effect on society, in many ways. Most teen pregnancies were not planned. CFOS says that about 65% of teen pregnancy's were not even discussed with their sexual partners. All of the other percentage of teen pregnancy's were not planned either, but it had been discussed with the teen's sexual partner at some point in time. Most teens began having sex without knowing the consequences. Teenagers need to take responsibility and remember to keep safe, because there are various ways to prevent teen pregnancy, for example abstinence, sex education, and various types of birth control; because these methods are available children should not be brought into this world mistakenly.
Teen pregnancy is the term used in reference to those young ladies who get pregnant before attainment of legal adulthood that is between 13-18 years age group. It is a circumstance under which a teenager becomes pregnant unintentionally affecting her life-span development. Teen pregnancy is a prevalent factor among many teenage women especially in their 16th to 19th birthday. Pregnant teenagers are today faced with many obstetrics problems similar to those of the women in their age gap of 20s and 30s. Additional medical concerns are experienced by pregnant teenagers in the developing countries especially women aged 14 or younger. A wide range of teenage pregnancy is unplanned and therefore more risk factors are experienced especially the socioeconomic risks. In the developing countries, teen pregnancies lead to social issues and life complications due to early motherhood. The associated social issues include lower educational levels, increasingly poverty level and other poor life outcomes. In the developed countries, teenage pregnancy occurs outside of marriage, thus leads to the development of social stigma in variety of cultures and communities (Carlson, 2009).
Tsai and Wong (2003) acknowledged many risks factors, which is a contributor to teen pregnancy. The influence involves numerous sexual partners, drug abuse, unprotected sex, use of or lack of contraceptives, poor attendance, school performance, and lack of family support, etc. Teen pregnancy is a main issue in every health care system, and affects a young girl’s ...
As time goes on, teen pregnancy is becoming more and more common throughout the world. So many people frown upon this whole idea. Such people act as if the teenage parents’ world is going to come to an end. Although these kids’ life is going to be making a big turn, there are many of them who are mature enough to take on the responsibilities of a baby.