Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy

As us females were young we all seem to become mothers, by playing with dolls, and playing house with others our age. It may be easy for us to say that as children we thought they needed some assistance, but in reality that was only our imagination. As little kids did we really think about what it would be like to really have a baby? We were children, but see the thing here is that teens are still children who are having other children. 16 year olds do not just wake up thinking they want to have a baby, most of the time it just happens without being planned. Teens often do not think about what life would be like as a parent which is easy to happen and we should be informed on the reasons why and what it really is like.

According to 2013 data, 11% of females in the US will give birth before age 20. This statistic is differentially distributed by race and ethnicity—8% of white teenage females, 16% of African American teenage females, and 17% of Hispanic teenage females. While Hispanics have the highest teen birth rate, there has been a drastic decline. Since 2007, the birth rate for Hispanics has declined by 45%, whereas the birth rate for African Americans has declined by 37% and 32% for whites

The teen birth rate reached a historic low at 34.4 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 in 2010, a 9 percent decline from 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and

Over 560 young women are at the risk of becoming a teen mother a year. Nearly 750,000 American teenagers become pregnant each year. These can be trying times for a young lady who is just starting to come into her own as a woman and as a citizen in society. Teen pregnancies can cause many complications

Teen childbirth is between the ages of 13 and 19 years of age. Teen childbirth is normally is unplanned. Teenage childbirth has been a public health issue for many years. Overall, the teen childbirth rate has declined. The teenage child birthrate in 2010 was 34.4 births per 1,000 women. This is 44% lower than the peak rate of 61.8, reached in 1991(Kost, Henshaw, 2014). The decline is evident across the country, ethnicities and racial groups (Kost, Henshaw, 2014). However, the United States continues to have the highest teen birthrates of all developed countries.

Teenage moms that are still in high school get pregnant at a young age, and are not able to support themselves or their child. There were just under a quarter million pregnancies in women ages fifteen to nineteen in 2014. About eighty-five percent of these pregnancies are unplanned, which in any population can increase the risk for problems. The biggest risk for teen mothers is delaying prenatal care or worse, about seven percent received no care at all. According to CDC, "In 2014, almost 250,000 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years, for a birth rate of 24.2 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another historic low, and a drop of 9% from 2013. Birth rates fell 11% for women aged 15–17 years, and 7% for women aged 18–19 years".

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), teen birth rate in the United States (U.S.) has been continuously declined for the past 20 years, yet the U.S. is still ranked the highest in teen pregnancy when compared to other developed nations (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2016). The term teen pregnancy is denoting young females being pregnant or giving birth under the age of 20. According to the CDC, in 2015, there were 229,715 babies born to adolescent females ages between 15-19, or a total of 22.3 live births per 1,000 in this age group in the United States; almost 89% of these births were from unmarried mothers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). There are disparities in teen birth rates

In 2012, there were 29.4 births for every 1,000 females ranging from the age 15-19. This is 305,420 babies total born to females in this age group. Eighty-nine percent of these births occurred outside of marriage. The 2012 teen birth rate shows a decline of six percent from 2011 when the birth rate was 31.3 per 1,000 girls. The teen birth rate has declined pretty steadily over the past 20 years. In 1991, the teen birth rate in the U.S. was 61.8 births for every 1,000 teenage girls, compared with 29.4 births for every 1,000 females in 2012 that’s pretty good. The U.S. teen birth rate is still higher than that of many other developed countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom. Although the teenage pregnancy numbers are decreasing,

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 adolescent females, followed by African American adolescent females 34.9 births per 1,000 adolescent females (CDC, 2017). In 2010, the public cost of births resulting from unintended pregnancies was estimated at $21 billion, this includes costs for prenatal care, labor and delivery, post-partum care, and a year of infant care (Healthy People 2020, 2016). These pregnancies have led to many social, health, and financial consequences. When unintended pregnancies occur in the younger age group, negative outcomes occur at a higher rate as compared to women of an older age. As a national statistic, 1 out of every 5 unintended pregnancies are from the teenage demographic, with a staggering 82 percent belonging to the ages

This Literature Review gives a deep insight of some of the available literature related to teen pregnancy, neighborhood effects on poverty, and socio-economic effects of teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancy has become a significant issue in society. A large number of teen pregnancy and school dropouts have been recorded in the past and get associated with poverty. To understand teen pregnancy and its association with poverty; this literature review is going to examine some of the academic journals that have covered this topic and try how teen pregnancy is affected by poverty and vice versa. The statistics from the journals shows that pregnancy rates are maximum among teens who come from low-income families and poverty-stricken

For example, a guy and girl are in a bedroom, and the guy does not follow the instructions on the back of the condom package, or a girl forgets to require her boyfriend to wear a condom. Perhaps a way to approach the problem is to ask, Why do teen girls get pregnant and what are the effects? Although the reasons for teenage pregnancy are not easy to identify, the effects of teen pregnancy are clear.

Everyday young girls are faced with life changing decisions, whether or not to tell someone their pregnant or might be pregnant. Teens fear what others will say about them or how their family and friends will react to them being pregnant. What teens do not realize is by not seeking help or informing someone their pregnant, they place themselves and their children in harm’s way. Starting the moment they become pregnant their chances of having health risk, during the pregnancy has already begun. There are several consequences and health risks that effect teens during and after pregnancy such as: gaining too much weight, not gaining enough

Whether it is buying a new seventy dollar pair of jeans or attending the latest hit artist’s concert, teenagers are always trying to fit into their ever changing society and will do just about anything to have a feeling of belonging with their peer groups. With Teen Mom, Sixteen and Pregnant, and Juno airing on a weekly basis it is not too hard to determine that teens are influenced by these highly praised young mothers. The Teen Mom cast may make $65,000 to $140,000 just to be filmed for the thirteen MTV series, but a teen mom in a small town may make, on average, $20,000 to $40,000 a year. The reality of teenage pregnancies can cause many disturbances in an adolescent 's life. High school pregnancies are not glitz and glamour like television may portray, in reality, expecting teenage mothers are not exposed to that fashionable life that most teenagers strive for. A student 's normal like will be affected by problems with friends, family, and emotional experiences.

Teen pregnancies occur between 13-19. Over a thousand teens give birth every day in the United States. In addition to problems a mother can face during this journey. Teen moms have a higher rate of low birth weight, premature labor, anemia, and pre-eclampsia. These problems are more current because most

Teenage pregnancy is an emerging global issue that affects sustainable development. Not only do the developing countries face this challenge but also the developed counties at large. Adolescent pregnancies challenge the moral and ethical sensibilities in most states and as researchers try to define the cause of teenage pregnancies. Sustainable development is necessary for the successful development of any nation. Therefore adolescent pregnancies become a societal` challenge that needs to be addressed efficiently. Teenage pregnancy is defined as the pregnancy that occurs in females below the age of twenty years (Leishman and Moir ). Depending on the situation, adolescent pregnancies can either be planned for or unplanned, but according to research most of the pregnancies are usually unwanted. According to statistics, although the number of teenage pregnancies is gradually decreasing, it is still calculated that for every five girls, two will get pregnant before the age of nineteen. The US is the most extensively developed country with high cases of teenage pregnancy; it was identified that more than 850,000 girls get pregnant every year and around 500,000 carry the pregnancy to term (Coleman). Notably, most of the societal issues are usually blamed on teenage pregnancy; for instance, single parenting, poverty, drug abuse, crime among other social problems. Over the recent years, there has been an overemphasis on preventing teenage pregnancy itself rather than addressing the