Teenage Pregnancy in the US

794 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Prevention strategies to eradicate the occurrence of teenage pregnancy

Teen Pregnancy: A New Option of Prevention

According to the Center for Disease Control, teen pregnancy has seen a slight downward shift in the past few years. However, this is not to say that the epidemic is somehow getting itself under control. In fact, the CDC reported that a much higher rate of teen birth, sexually transmitted diseases, and abortions are much higher that those of other western industrialized countries. There are several factors that plays a huge role in decreasing these amount of teen pregnancy and can be easily remedied when plans are implemented that actually work.

Teen pregnancy in the US brings substation costs including the rise in low economic family and costs, and it increase the long term impacts on the teen parents and their children. According to the CDC, teen pregnancy accounts for approximately $9 billion each year in cost to tax payers due to the increase cost of child card and the loss of tax revenues. Furthermore, teen pregnancy is the number one reason that students drop out of school leaving them with a diminished capacity to move out of the low income bracket and attain additional education to improve their families lifestyle.

Additionally, children born to teenage parents are more at risk for lower school performance and tend to end up dropping out of school themselves. They generally have more heath problems, are incarcerated at some point in the lives – general during adolescence, and are more likely to fall into the same pit of having children at a very early age.

It is unfortunate that this epidemic continues to run on a continuous cycle with the children of teen parents becoming teen parents themselves. There are quite a few reasons for the increase...

... middle of paper ...

...is prepared to deliver training and technical assistance to all funded organization in the initiative both at the state and community level. The key is to develop partnerships to promote the reduction of teen pregnancy via the key components of the CDC’s Teem Pregnancy Prevention Program.

The major components or model for the programs included:

Evidence based and evidence informed prevention program implement.

Linking teens to quality health service.

Stakeholder Education

Sustainability

From these outcomes the program is designed to measure and show progress in the reduction of teen births rates by 10% in targeted communities. They should reduce teenage pregnancy in targeted communities. And increase percentage of youth who abstain form or delay sex and increase consistent and correct use of condoms and other effective methods of contraceptives.

Show More
Related

  • Teen Pregnancy in Illinois

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    Based on these statistics, teen pregnancy is obviously a large issue in this county. A possible solution to the issue would be that sex education could to be taught in junior and senior high schools and be taught by parents more often. By the time of sex education, a vast majority of students have already had sex. This may have played a part in Tony, from The Other Wes Moore, being a father at such a young age. The ultimately best solution to help stop teen pregnancy in this county alone is to provide a “sex clinic” to these teenagers. A safe sex clinic is a way of providing teenagers the facts of the real world and even offering various forms of birth control. As other solutions, parents need to have a sex talk with their children, and schools need to provide the option for a sex education more frequently. However, there is no way to mandate what parents teach to students, and it takes far too long to change a state's curriculum. That’s why, through this solution, the rate of teen births would show to decrease for the better.

    Read More

  • Essay: The Causes And Effects Of Teen Pregnancy

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Unwanted and Unplanned Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Illness

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Teen Pregnancy Within The United States

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...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). If the teen pregnancy rate could be decreased by 50% in Wards 7 and 8 then the teen pregnancy rate in Washington D.C. would decrease from 17.1% to 11.6% (childtrends). These Wards are especially at risk of teen pregnancy and the teen pregnancy rate could further decline if they focused on these at-risk populations (childtrends). Teen parenthood tends to lead to welfare dependence, negative educational outcomes, and instability in the home. Teen pregnancy costs taxpayers $9 billion a year.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes, Stereotyping and Teen Pregnancy

    1465 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Decrease Of Teen Pregnancy Rate

    454 Words  | 1 Pages

    The overall teen birth rate has declined by 16 percent from 1991 to 1997. “All states are recording a decline and it is the sixth year in a row that the teen birth rate has declined,” stated Donna Shalala, HHS secretary of U. S. Newswire. Although the birthrate among teens is decreasing and the percentage of teenagers who have had sexual intercourse is declining, it is a multi-fauceted problem affecting today’s youth. The government is taking in to consideration all possibilities and conditions with teen births to make an affective way to prevent it.

    Read More

  • The Decrease of Teen Pregnancy in America

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    Studies show that between 2006 and 2011 there was an average drop of about 30% of teen pregnancies and 50% of teens involved in any kind of sexual activity (not just intercourse) in America. According to a recent study as of 2008, teen birth rates in the U.S., (which have been declining for tw...

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Teen Pregnancy On The Teen, Society, And The Family

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Teen Pregnancycy: The Risks Of Teen Pregnancy

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    Children born to teen mothers are also twice as likely to be victims of abuse and neglect” In other words, due to the lack of education a teen parent tend to have, it will affect the child because the parent will not be to provide a correct one. Also, the majority of teen pregnancies tend to be unplanned. Therefore, children are who suffer since they were not desired hurting their esteem and assertiveness.

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Teen Pregnancy

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    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. Low-birthweight babies are more likely to have organs that are not fully developed, which can result in complications, such as bleeding in the brain, respiratory distress syndrome, and intestinal problems (Health Communities). Also, teenager’s brains have not fully developed yet. Scans have revealed changes of the volume, of gray matter in parts of the cortex that are “responsible for more ‘top-down’ control, controlling impulses, and planning ahead—the hallmarks of adult behavior…”(The Teen Brain). This means, minors do not understand the concept of ‘what they are doing now can affect them later life’. Plus, these young mothers may have not had the education to even know what is wrong from right in pregnancy! Adolescent mothers are more likely known to smoke cigarettes, use

    Read More

  • Teen Pregnancy

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although there are still troubles with teenage pregnancy, there are people out there who are putting forth effort to help the social problem. Countless organizations are beginning to show up and attempt in helping these teens. There is a group that started in Austin, Texas called The Tandem Teen Prenatal and Parenting Program. “Tandem has been effective in improving the health and well-being of teenage parents and their children and has more than halved the national subsequent pregnancy rate of 24% among its clients by more then half” (Rosell, Scarborough, Lewis, 2010). Tandem is trying to help in improving the lives of the teen parents who do not have much help from anyone else. “They provide one-on-one prenatal education at appropriate intervals, with the aid of topical packets that include print and video material” (Rosell, Scarborough, Lewis, 2010).

    Read More

  • Essay On Community Profile

    1522 Words  | 4 Pages

    The chosen health improvement initiative that is going to be studied within this community profile is reducing the amount of teenage pregna...

    Read More

  • Teenagers Need Safe Sex Education

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    Three million teenagers will contract a sexually transmitted disease and one in three women will become pregnant before they are twenty years old. Teens are contracting sexually transmitted diseases and getting pregnant at an alarming rate, causing the government, schools, and parents to scratch their heads. America is the country with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world. Many are wondering what can be done to stop this. A debate has been going on about whether abstinence education is doing any good for high school students in America.

    Read More

  • Problems that Teenage Mothers Face

    1605 Words  | 4 Pages

     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.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech Outline On Teenage Pregnancy

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thesis Statement: Within America, there is a teen pregnancy epidemic across all socioeconomic backgrounds, presenting commonalities as to the causes and ramifications of adolescents emerging as a growing parental population.

    Read More

More about Teenage Pregnancy in the US

Open Document