Teen Pregnancy

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Recommended: Teenage pregnancy may be prevented by improved education

In the 1960s and early 1970s, more unmarried women who became pregnant decided not to get married. As more teenage mothers remained single, public concern increased. Teen pregnancies were, often presented as a medical problem to be, treated with more access to clinics, birth control and abortion. There was a shift from viewing teen pregnancy as a moral problem to that of seeing it as a psychological or health problem (Adams, 1997).

When we look at influences, it is hard to say what precisely is the main pressure of teen pregnancies in the United States is. Each year, almost 750,000 teenage women, in the United States of America, ages 15 to 19 become pregnant (U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics, 2006). Worldwide, rates of teenage pregnancy range from 143 per 1000 in sub-Saharan Africa to 2.9 per 1000 in South Korea (UNICEF, 2001). The problems vary in different countries, the most common denominator is educational failure, high rates of poverty, unemployment, and low self- esteem and the promotion of sexually actives through the media, radio, and computers do not help. For example it is the beliefs of many that if sex is not involved it will not do well in sells of clothing, music and movies.

Teenage or early parenthood in countries such as the UK is more likely to be associated with adverse social and health outcomes than pregnancies or parenting at a later age (Dickson et al., 1997; Hobcraft and Kiernan, 1999; McLeod, 2001). Social disadvantage and exclusion is both a cause and consequence of teenage pregnancy and parenthood (Kiernan, 1995; SEU, 1999; Swann et al., 2003). When comparing the intervention and prevention strategies used in the UK, it appears to have the same theoretical reason as to why teen pregn...

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...rieved July 3, 2011, from http: / / newvawnet. org/ category/ Documents.php? docid= 409& category_ id= 695

There’s a Fine Line...Adolescent Dating Violence and PreventionJudith W. Herrman

Sears, H.A., Byers, E.S., Whelan, J. J., & Saint-Pierre, M. ( 2006). “If it hurts you, then it is not a joke:” Adolescents’ ideas about girls’ and boys’ use and experience of abusive behavior in dating relationships. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21( 9), 1991- 1207. Retrieved July 3, 2011, from http: / / newvawnet. org/ category/ Documents.php? docid= 409& category_ id= 695

UNICEF. (2001). A League Table of Teenage Births in Rich Nations. Retrieved July 3, 2011 from http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/pdf/repcard3e.pdf.

U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics. (2006). Guttmacher Institute. Retrieved 3 July 2011from www.guttmacher.org/pubs/state_pregnancy_trends.pdf

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