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Factors affecting teen pregnancy
Theoretical review on teenage pregnancy
Theoretical review on teenage pregnancy
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In American teenage pregnancy has always been a problem, but in the last decade is has decreased drastically. Most teens in America do not plan to get pregnant at this age, so in order to prevent losing this childhood, most teen has an abortion. (Finer) stated “71% of the teens between the ages 18-19, that get pregnant have abortions” (114 – table 4). At the age of 18-19 most of these teenagers are either in their first year of college or not even done with high school. Therefore, at this age these teenagers haven’t even figured out what they want to do with their lives. As I sated before, having a child requires time and money, and these are the two thing that most teenagers don’t have. As a first year college student, I personally know how
In some regions of the world such as China, a one child policy was established due to overpopulation (Jian) . One of the reasons for overpopulation was because of the vast number of births from exceptionally young couples. Locally, in 2009, 1,991 children were born to women between the ages of fifteen and nineteen in Rock Island ("Illinois Teen Births by County") which was a shocking amount due to the dramatic drop in teen pregnancies nationwide (See Figure 1 below).
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.
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.
The District of Columbia is the 23rd most population city in the United States with a population of 658,893 (Census). According to UNICEF, teen pregnancy is defined as “A teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant” ((Link 1). Nationally in the United States, there has been a steady decline of teen pregnancy within the past decade. However, it is not occurring in the District of Columbia, specifically Southeast DC (Ward 7 and 8) which includes areas such as: Lincoln Heights, Twining, Anacostia and Woodland. As of 2011, DC was ranked number nine in the nation for the highest rate of teen pregnancy. For the total amount of births, only 908 were from young women who were below the age of 20 in Washington DC. About 879 were from young women that were around high school ages 15-19. Specifically, Southeast DC is a low-income area, with approximately ¼ of teen mothers going on welfare within three years after their child’s birth (Link 2). As of 2012, out of the 790 births from teenage mothers, more than half, or 457 of the births mainly occurred in the Southeast DC area (Link4). This area has been plagued through various social determinants of health. This includes having repeated cycles of poverty, lack of comprehensive sexual education, especially in regards to contraception and a lot of violence occurring as a result of crimes. Ward 7 has approximately 95% of its citizens being Black and 2.3% of their citizens are Hispanic(Link 5). While in Ward 8 have about 94% of their citizens that are Black and 1.8% are Hispanic. Between both wards, about 63% of households including both Blacks and Hispanics are living below the federal poverty line and about 37% of births from the 2010 census were from teenage mothers. Abo...
Studies show that within the last seven years there has been a dramatic drop in the number of teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancy is best known as, the act of getting pregnant between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. Teen pregnancy does not come with much of a history. In the past, (mostly in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) it was common for girls to be married between the ages of fourteen and sixteen and give birth not long after. Some girls were having babies as young as thirteen and fourteen years old! During the times that young girls would bear children and be married so young, college and education was not an important factor. As a young girl you learned how to take care of your house, farm, laundry, crops, animals, husband, and children. The father was your main source of income. Obviously things in our time are very different. Over the years a growing importance for education and making a living on your own has become crucial to many women. It was no longer important to have children so soon, but to learn to be a strong, educated, and independent woman. Even now as time has gone by, the image of being a pregnant teenage girl has been glorified solely by media. It becomes less important to get an education so you can get a good job and be able to raise a child and give them a good life, and more important to get pregnant and get a chance to be worshiped nationally on t.v. for being pregnant and making all of your money through fame.
Teen Pregnancy has been a big epidemic this past century. Not only effecting countries like the United States , Mexico and England but also countries like Canada and Sweden. The big baby boomer epidemic started it all not only in the United states but all over the world. Many people wouldn’t think that Canada has had a problem with teen pregnancy rates but it was one of the many countries that was involved with the baby boomer era. Most people didn’t know pregnancy rates doesn’t just include live births but also abortions and fetal loss rates which many people fail to add in this category. The main purpose of the research was to show the trends in teen pregnancy only in Canada from 2001 to 2010. The researchers believed that pregnancy has in facet went down since the start of research in the 1974 by almost 20% . Most people think this information isn’t that important but it is its important for educators , service providers, and also policy makers. Teen pregnancy numbers were compared per 1000 women ages 15 to 19. Some of the Providences didn’t want to participate in this study so they had to estimate the number of abortions per clinic that did let them do the study for teens ages 19 and under. In years leading up to 2008 the CIHI reported a decline in teen abortions not only in one providence but also in others. From 2001 – 2005 teen birth and abortions declined in 10 out of 12 Providences by 14.8% this was the largest decrease they've seen so far. Researchers found that teen birth and abortion rates both declined from 2001 to 2010. Birth rates declined by 15.6% while abortion rates declined by 24.2 % Both rates fell by 20.3% from 2001 to 2010. Since teen pregnancy has decreased since starting research it shows that teens are eit...
Although teenagers facing abortion, is a psychological, social and philosophical issue that must be encountered, however a teenager should have the right to do what they think is best for them just like we all have freedom of speech and action, we might get a harmful consequences but at the end we still are going to do what is good for us. Reports indicate that they are approximately 1 million teenagers in America that become pregnant each year. How can we stop this?
More information on the effects of teen pregnancy would cause a larger decline in pregnancy rates. Although there are many books and students are educated on human development. If teens were better educated then it would help them to make better decisions. Not much information is given on what effects of becoming pregnant or the resources available to pregnant teenagers. For example, there is less than a 2% chance that a teen mother will have earned a college degree by the time she is 30 (11 Facts about Teen Pregnancy). One of the effects of teen pregnancy is depression due to the many fluctuating hormones. The loss of any supports from friend or colleagues throughout the pregnancy cycle leaves the mother feeling alone. Parents don’t know what to do and are unprepared to deal with their child’s pregnancy. A second effe...
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 cause significant effects to 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. The same laws allow the teenagers to have an abortion but require parental notification or consent before carrying out the procedure. These laws prove biased as they favor one resolution over the other, as they force some to bear babies they do not want by restricting their options.
We as students play an important role in this struggle, both as advocates for choice and as people deserving control of our futures and reproductive capacities. One million American teenagers become pregnant each year, and 78% of pregnancies in American women aged 18-19 are unintended. Over one third of women said that their reason for having an abortion was that having a child would interfere with attendance at school; over a quarter said they could not afford to support a child because they were a student or about to become one. Studies also show that women over 25 earned on average $12,897 if they went to high school but had not graduated versus $31,071 if they had a bachelor's degree. The reality is clear: students need choice and women need education. (http://www.choiceusa.org/facts03.html)
Teenage pregnancy has always been present in society. There is research stating that about half the women, born between 1900- 1910, who were interviewed were non-virginal at marriage (17 Ravoira). This contradicts some thoughts that premarital sexual behavior is something new. There was another study done in 1953, it found that one fifth of all first births to women were conceived before marriage (17 Ravoira). Even before our modern openness in discussing sexual behavior and acceptance that it does occur, it was quite routine. In earlier society, the incidence of teenage pregnancy was a moral problem. This was because people looked at the child as filius nullius (nobody's child), or illegitimate and the mother as bad, immoral, over- sexed, etc. (18 Ravoira). The child was being blamed for mearly being born, this is unfair to the child who had no fault in the matter (18 Ravoira). The real problem that was seen was the fact that the children were born out-of-wedlock. People seemed to have real difficulty accepting that the baby is still a baby no matter what conditions it was born under.
In society today, teens are taught by the television and the media that pre-marital sex is not a bad thing. This problem is leading to many teenage pregnancies, that then lead to abortion. All over the world teens are faced with many challenges in their everyday lives. Sex is being portrayed as extremely appealing in the media, but what they don't show is the pregnancies and the unborn child that never asked to be created in the first place that is being discarded. Abortion is in no way acceptable, it is murder of an unborn child.
Preventing teenage pregnancy has been a goal for many years now. Statistics have tried to keep up with the change in the teenage generation. Many people have different opinions on the subject of teen pregnancy, because to some people teens seem to be getting pregnant expeditiously in these times. People fail to realize that having a baby is a privilege to many people and not a problem. Many people take having a baby as a lightly. Getting pregnant and having a kid has many pros/cons. Having a child can be very hard on some people and cause them to break. When babies are brought into this world there are a lot of things to worry about. The greatest problem associated with teen pregnancy is financial instability. Most teens do not have the salary to support a child. In the prevention of teen pregnancy there are many things that are helpful. Abstinence is a for sure way of not getting pregnant. There are also other helpful ways to help prevent teen pregnancy, such as sex education and birth control. All of these things are essential in the helping to prevent teenage pregnancy.