Pressure from Peers Creates Teenage Pregnancy Essay

Factors that tend to relate with teenage pregnancy are low income, poor education, social isolation, drug and alcohol use, and lack of early prenatal care.

Teen pregnancy falls into the category of pregnancies in girls age 19 or younger (NIH). Although statistics have shown a decrease, the number of teen pregnancy in the U.S. is still relatively high compared to the rest of the world. Sexual health is one of the top priorities in early adolescence health in the United States. Consequences of having sex at a young age generally results in unsafe sex practices. The consequences can be due to the lack of knowledge about sex education, and access to birth control/contraception (NIH, 2005). Due to the lack of knowledge and access to birth control, adolescents involve in risk taking when they start to explore sexual intimate relationships.

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).

Teenage pregnancy has long been acknowledged as an important health, social and economic problem in the United States, one that creates hardships for women and families and threatens the health and well-being of women and their infants. Unintended pregnancies span across age, race and religion, with a specific negative impact among the teenage population. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC, 2016) In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. Birth rates are also higher among Hispanic and African American adolescents than any other race. In 2014, Hispanic adolescent females ages 15-19 had the highest birth rate of 38 births per 1,000

Teenagers have little awareness about how to prevent becoming pregnant. In a news article by Daniel Armbuster, he said, “It’s all about healthy relationships. That’s where we fail our kids is teaching them how to have a healthy relationship. In other words, teenagers have not heard anything about how to prevent teen pregnancy. Their

Pregnancies in adolescents are caused by the practice of sexual intercourse without contraceptive methods and by lack of sexual information. According to the organization Save the Children each year are born 13 million children of women under the age of 20 throughout the world, more than 90% in the so-called developing countries and in the developed countries the remaining 10%.

Some teenagers get pregnant due to not knowing about the consequences of unprotected sex. Most don’t know about any of the consequences because they don’t have anyone to talk to them about it and others just doesn’t want to listen. Parents don’t think their kids will ever think about having sex so they don’t feel the need to talk to them about it but that only leads to teenagers getting pregnant without being prepared with a stable job.

From a local level, it is like trying to figure out, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Some causes of negative outcomes for teenage pregnancy are educational failure, poverty, unemployment, and low esteem could result from early child bearing before the female is ready. In 2006, a study conducted, has

Teens that become pregnant while still going through high school have a significantly higher dropout rate according to Michael Frank, a professor at Stanford University . Not graduating combined with a garnished wage can seriously stall an individual's growth in the world. The family of a teen mother is burdened by the weight of another child and pour their money into child care and other expenses. Having to care for a child, can influence a teens day so that they no longer have time for school or work. Child care in the United States of America can cost upwards of 10,000 dollars a year which is more than many teens make in all of high school (Diobrat 1). Teens rely on loans or their parents to help them pay for a child. Sexual education in schools is very basic and lacks details and specific courses that teach abstinence only are recommended by parents (Diobrat 3). Abstinence is the practice of not engaging in sexual activity and is the only 100% efficient way to prevent teen pregnancy and the spread of STD's. With abstinence only education, teens are not taught about birth control or other forms of contraceptives. Parents argue that if teens are not given the "OK" for sex, by teaching about contraceptives, they will never wonder about sexual activity and not want to engage in casual

There are many medical risks that come with teen pregnancy. Pregnant teens are more likely to get pregnancy

Although the teenage pregnancy rates in the United States (US) are currently at its lowest in a period of 40 years, it still tops the list amongst developed countries. According to Kost and Henshaw (2012), approximately 6.78% of young women aged between15–19(nearly 750,000 teenagers) become pregnant every year. Finer and Zolna (2011) stated that 82% of these pregnancies are unintended. Moreover, because the average menarche age has reached about 12 or 13 years old (Potts, 1990), which is an all-time low. BThis is ecause for every ten young women, six engage in sex as teenagers (Martinez et al., 2011), most of these girls are at high risk of conceiving.

The key to preventing teenage pregnancy lies within the education. It is very important to start teaching children at a very young age the cons and pros of sex, especially since the age that people are initiating intercourse is astonishing low. "7.2% of students nationwide report having sex before the age of 13, 42.5% by grade

Chances are that in most households, sexual activity under the age of 18 would be frowned upon and very possibly could lead to decisions made outside of the young women. Teens who accidentally become pregnant might well feel a strong urge to hide conditions and be embarrassed of what others have to say. They might also have nice reputation and do not want to jeopardize what others think about them. For example, the teen could be a track star or cheerleader and have these schools looking at her willing to give scholarships and she could be sexually active and become pregnant and jeopardize everything she has worked so hard

By having all these new problems to deal with without a fully developed maturity the mother can also suffer from emotional and mental stagnation. Her peers may reject her as society deems teenage pregnancy unacceptable. She may feel humiliated and ashamed after her pregnancy begins to show, so then she refuses to finish school and as a result she lessens her ability to effectively raise her child. When teenage mother are pregnant, they are the least likely of all maternal age groups to get early and regular prenatal care. There are many teen mothers who receive late or no prenatal care at all. After giving birth, the majority of girls drop out of school in order to care of the baby. If there is no one else to share the endless amount of work, she must assume full responsibility. She may be forced to pursue employment with a minimal of earning potential due to her lack of education. This scenario tends to breed an unstable and financially insecure parent, and the child may also suffer from neglect by the constantly working mother.

Another factor is alcohol and vanity. Luxurious lifestyles cause most teenagers to sadly stumble unto the path of prostitution as well and often becoming impregnated and drop out of school. Being a mom at an early age due to fast living can also lead to contraction of life-threatening diseases such as HIV/AIDS which could also be an addition to teenage pregnancy. Having been sick with HIV/AIDS and pregnant is not the combination any mother would ever dream about especially