Adolescent parents (mostly mothers) may find that they have a "lost or limited opportunity for education." The higher a woman's level of education, the more likely she is to postpone marriage and childbearing. Adolescents with little schooling are often twice as likely as those with more education to have a baby before their twentieth birthday. Some 58% of young women in the United States who receive less than a high school education give birth by the time they are twenty years old, com... ... middle of paper ... ...on, parents and communities are continuing to discourage sexual activity, marriage, and motherhood at a young age.These recent trends, if continued, will more than likely educate the adolescent population about the risks and consequences of teenage pregnancy and reduce the incicence of teen pregnancy and childbirth altogether. Works Cited Berk, Laura E. Child Development.
The Increase of Teenage Pregnancy 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.
Teenage pregnancy has become a major issue in society over the past years. More girls are becoming sexually active at younger ages which sometimes result in unplanned pregnancies. Although the rates of teen pregnancy have declined significantly over the past decades, the United States still has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world. According to DoSomething.org, three in ten American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That’s almost 650,000 teen pregnancies each year.
Children coming from adolescent parents are more likely to have poorer health, behavioral, and educational outcomes throughout their lives (comparing to children with older parents). Infants born from teenage mothers are at an increased risk for health issues. (This explains why our ancestors had lost so many of their infants.) Pregnant juveniles are less likely to gain sufficient weight during pregnancy, this can lead to a low birth weight of the child. Low birth weight is associated with several infant and childhood disorders and a higher rate of infant mortality.
For example from 1990 to 2010 the teen birth rate has declined from 61.8 to 29.4 for every one thousand teen girls (Teen Pregnancy & Childbearing 1). Even with a decrease from the past twenty years, National statistics show that in 2012 there were still 305,388 teen births. On average there were twenty-nine births for every one thousand girls and only fifty-four percent were planned. More pregnancies occur among girls of minority. For example forty-six out of every one thousand girls of Hispanic descent were pregnant in 2012 while African American girls had close to forty-four for every one thousand.
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.
CFOC’s National Survey of Family Growth stated that teens are having less sex. CFOC also stated that more teenagers surveyed that their closest friends were involved in some sort of sex education class, and they were not sexually active. Abstaining... ... middle of paper ... ...ontrol are used to prevent pregnancy in teens and also in adults who do not wish to have a children. Studies show that those methods are becoming more and more effective, because the teenage pregnancy rate has dropped by 11%. Birth control is important to teenagers, and they should be used if a teen is to become sexually active.
Being pregnant at a young age puts adolescent mothers at a higher risk for short and long-term complications. This can be either health or social complications. Teen pregnancy not only put the mothers at risk but also put the newborns at risk for low-birth weight, premature births, and developmental delays (Strunk, 2008). Every year, the average amount of dollars spent on teen pregnancy is about $11 billion in tax dollars. The majority of the cost goes to foster care and health care access due to the decreased incomes in teen pregnancy households.
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... ... middle of paper ... ...tics illustrate that the teenage girls in Wards 7 and 8 are the most in need of an intervention. The teen pregnancy rate has been on the decline in recent years in Washington D.C., though it would be most beneficial to focus on the teen pregnancy rate in Wards 7 and 8 (childtrends). From 2010 to 2012 the teen pregnancy rate declined from 19 percent to 16 percent (childtrends).
Teen pregnancy is a controversial issue because of the negative stereotypes, the health of the teen mothers, and the health risk they are putting their babies through. Although the percentage of teenage pregnancy in the United States has declined significantly within recent years; it is still a huge problem that needs to be addressed. The rates are still higher in the 1990's than they were only a period ago.” The United States teenage birthrate hits most of the other industrialized nations, even though American teenagers are not more sexually active than the teenager’s that are in Canada or Europe”(Gormly 348). The latest statistics concerning the teen birthrates are frightening. There is about 560,000 teenage girls give birth each year.