Each year, almost 1 million teenage women become pregnant (ages 15-19). Most of these teenagers are not aware of all the negative effects pregnancy can have. The most crucial of these negative effects are: the physical effects, the emotional effects, and the social effects on the mother. Teenage pregnancy introduces many new physical effects on the young woman. It usually begins with morning sickness for some and a major change in the woman’s body image. She will begin to feel self-conscious about her weight gain. In most cases the girl is not used to getting “fat.” She thinks that she will always be skinny, but pregnancy shows her that she will not be skinny forever. Her body has never had these changes before and she begins to feel unhappy …show more content…
All kinds of feelings will arise and it can and will get very overwhelming for the young girl. The girls that once thought having sex was fun will start to regret ever having sex. When teens have sex, they usually do not think about the consequences; that is when they go wrong. There are many consequences when a guy and girl have sex, but the major one is becoming pregnant. They do not realize that they could be making a child, and their life is changing forever in that moment of “fun.” The girl then feels guilty like, she knows she has done something that she should not have done. She feels that she is too young to have a child at such a young age. She wishes she would not have had sex at such a young age. She wants to give her child the best, but how can she when she is actually still a child herself? While she is full of guilt, she can start feeling depressed. Now the young girl feels guilty and has emotions that are signs of depression. Depression is a cause of grief. It is similar to guilt, but a much sadder and gloomier state. When a person is depressed, they usually do not want to be around anyone or have anything to do with anyone, sometimes not even the child they are carrying in their womb. They are normally really quiet and private. The girl has many feelings like whether she should keep her child, give it up for adoption, or abort the child (Valdez). Teenage girls already have enough …show more content…
Social effects are what most people know as life-changing moments. The first life-changing moment that young mother’s face is whether or not to finish their high school education. They feel like all the pressure is on them and they are the center of attention at school. When the girls’ friends find out that she is pregnant, they begin to gossip about her. The “friends” that she thought would always be there for her, disappear. They no longer want anything to do with her because she is pregnant, and they have nothing in common. She will have no free time to do her homework with a child, and she has lost most of her friends, so she makes the decision to drop out of high school (Aburto). According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, only 51 percent of teenage mothers earn a high school diploma, while 89 percent of girls who did not get pregnant stayed in school (Marshall). In some cases the teenage mother gets a GED to say she at least completed something. Once the girl has received her GED, she has a better chance of getting a job. With the girl having zero college education, and only a GED, it will be hard for her to find a job that pays enough to support her family. Studies show that most teenagers who get pregnant are, already at or below the poverty levels, but teen pregnancy does not cause poverty (Opposing Viewpoints 22-23). She will have to rely on minimal wage to
Furthermore, there are major health issues surrounding teenage pregnancy. For one, teen mothers are two to six times more likely to have low birth-weight babies, compared to mothers above twenty years of age. This is because teen mothers are often still growing themselves, and physically cannot let the baby grow and develop. Such low birth-weights lead to higher risks of new-born health problems, undevelo...
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.
...se if she wants to fit in. Becoming a teen mother also comes with loss of social standing as well as a change in reputation. For example, someone known for becoming most likely to succeed becomes known for their promiscuity. Many female teens also felt pressured into having sex and they were not ready for a sexual relationship (Causes of Teen Pregnancy, Langham).
Being a parent is very demanding and can be hard. The difficulties that come with an unplanned pregnancy in teens can have a profound effect on their life. Their physical, social, mental, and emotional health will all be affected by a sudden change in the course of their life. Teens impacted with an unplanned pregnancy will have to give up many things in order to be a parent. In addition, they will have to take on many more responsibilities that accompany pregnancy and parenthood. All in all, having an unplanned pregnancy and becoming a parent introduce many new responsibilities and difficulties.
Babies, as well as the teenage mothers, face long-time problems may face long-term problems from the pregnancy. These problems may include school failure, poverty, and physical or mental illness. Babies born to teenagers are at greater risk for neglect and abuse than those of a woman. Teenage mothers may feel like they are being demanded to do the job and they may take their frustration out on the child (When 1).
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
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.
One major effect of teen pregnancy is that the child may be raised by a single parent. While most girls are looking for love and acceptance in sex, many guys are looking for the mere pleasure and are not planning on becoming a teen father. The pressures of high school and hanging out with friends may be overwhelming for some teens, so they just leave. Raising a child as teen is difficult, but raising a child alone would be almost impossible.
One wrong step and some 15 years girl get pregnant. One wrong step and the society will mark you as the anathema. Still the teenage pregnancy is prominent aspect of many different countries in this world Teenage pregnancy means that some female is under age of 20 years when her pregnancy period is just ending. It is a serious issue which cannot be ignored both in developed as well as undeveloped countries. It creates great difficulties for teenage women. More than 50% of women cannot imagine problems which would affect their own lives. The baby born to the teenage mother has risk of the low birth weight risk of the pre-maturity and the risk of anemia along with other health issues to mother and child, mother suffers because of her body is not developed for supporting another life. In most of cases baby develops weakness and laziness that prevails throughout their lives.
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.
Poverty and lack of academic success contribute, there is mounting evidence that poor academic success and bad parenting lead to teen pregnancy. Babies from teen mothers usually have poor health, lower grades, and have lower cognitive tests scores (Witte 137-54). The majority of children from an unplanned pregnancy are born to unmarried women. Children raised in single parent families face more challenges; they are more likely to be poor, dropout, lower grade point average, and poor school attendance records (Brown 11-4).
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.
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.
This is known to be the best time of your life. Girls who are faced with teen pregnancy go through dramatic changes. They have to make adjustments in their life and limit the partying and most of the physical activities. Along with those changes, pregnant teens need to focus on getting an education in order to get a job that will support themselves and their child. No one’s life is easy, especially going through a drastic change like this. Even though it gets rough at times it can still be manageable and that is what a lot of people don’t realize.
...due to increasing uncertainty about the future. Fears of having the baby are prevalent as the teen becomes confused on the impact of the baby towards her own life and future dreams. In their lifespan development, delaying their education is necessary as they cannot hold on to both the education and the pregnancy. The depression developed is due to lack of effective handling of the emotions created by the pregnancy (Carlson, 2009).