Teen Pregnancy

Teen pregnancy is an issue in United States, it is one issue that should wait until teens are married and know what they are doing with their lives. This issue came about in the early in the 1950’s – 1960’s. Teen pregnancy is a teenage girl between the ages 13-19 (girls who haven’t reached adulthood) having unwanted or wanted babies. Janet Bode once stated in her book, “Emotions run everywhere, scared, sad, disappointment and preparation for what is about to happen” (Bode 51). If we do not act now, teen pregnancy will be out the roof. Teen pregnancy needs a stop put to it no matter what, teens are still children themselves and they are still learning how to take care of themselves:

Teen pregnancy has become a problem over the past decade. This issue can be looked at using sociological imagination. C. Write Mills explaing the idea of sociological imagination as the ability to see the connection between personal experiences and larger society. On a personal level, teens with children experience many difficulties juggling the responsibilities of parenting, school, work, and everything else. The teenage years can be very complicated, but adding a child to the mix can really impact young men and women’s relationships, emotions, and future. Looking at this problem on a public level, society has a huge role in preventing teen pregnancies. Also, the media plays a large role in influencing teenagers to engage in sexual activities.Many

Based on the readily available images broadcast from films, MTV and other mass media, one might assume that the teen pregnancy epidemic is on the rise. In one respect, this health risk condition has rarely been more culturally visible than it is right now. However, it does bear noting that teen pregnancy has actually been on the decline in the United States over the last two decades. According to the source provided by Sheets (2012), "from 1990 to 2008, the teen pregnancy rate decreased 42 percent (from 117 to 68 pregnancies per 1,000 teen girls)."

There is no question that teen pregnancy is a worldwide issue in today’s society. Every year thousands of young, unprepared teenage girls face the decision whether to become a mother or to give their baby up for adoption for a better life. Some mothers choose to give their baby up because they feel as if they could not give the baby what is needed to have a good life. If you have ever heard of the show “16 and Pregnant” both sides of the situation have happened. Some girls on the show choose to be a mother and others choose to give their baby up for adoption, because they feel it is what is best for their child. The big question is

One of the main reasons for high rates of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. is the continuation of ineffective abstinence based education (Bell, 2009) and not allowing teenagers to make abortion related decisions. In the U.S. Eighty two percent of the teenage pregnancy is unintended and 37 % of total unintended pregnancies result in abortion. Teenagers choose to abort babies because of shame, staying focused on career, unstable financial status to support babies and not getting emotional and economic support from parents. Twenty two percent of pregnant teenagers choose not to tell their parents (ACLU, 2001).

Teenage pregnancy has become an identified social problem and the focus of much concern. The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the fully industrialized world. While the rates have been declining in the last fifteen years, it remains a source of concern that, nearly thirty-four percent of teenage girls in the United States are becoming pregnant at least once before the age of twenty. The teenage pregnancy in the United States rate is ten times that of Japan, four times those of France and Germany, and nearly twice that of Great Britain. Eighty percent of these pregnancies are unintended and seventy-nine percent are to unmarried teens (Davies, McKinnon, & Rains, 2001). Only a third of teen mothers graduate from high school. Eight out of ten unmarried teen moms wind up on welfare. The children of teen moms do less well in school and are at a higher risk of neglect and abuse than children born to women age twenty and older (Bissell, 2000).

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

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a literature review of teen pregnancy and public perception. The chapter will begin by examining the decrease of teen pregnancy in America. It will transition to understanding the emotional effects on teen mothers and depict how a pregnant teen’s life could be altered. It will conclude by discussing how the topic of teen pregnancy has caused the President of the United States to take a closer look. This chapter will end with a summary of my research findings.

While many people are inclined to express indifference regarding this concept, teen pregnancy is one of the most controversial topics in the contemporary society. This experience can be devastating for some individuals, as the fact that they are raw makes it difficult for them to effectively deal with the problem. Society becomes more stressing and most teens who become pregnant come to express feelings related to shame and fear. The fact that these individuals are hesitant about letting their parents know that they are pregnant contributes to their problems and finding help sometimes becomes an impossible mission. Lack of life experience materializes into a more severe type of stress, endangering both the mother and the child.

The United States’ of America boasts the highest teen birth rate of any industrialized nation. The teen birthrate in the U.S. is so high that it almost doubles the United Kingdom’s birth rate and is fifteen times greater than the birth rate of Japan (Garth 115). Lakita Garth is a highly reputed speaker on many different issues and is one of the leading abstinence advocates in the United States. Garth explains how on her many visits with pregnant teenagers, she learned that none of the teens blamed their pregnancy on their lack of information of contraception. Instead, the girls Garth met with lamented that they were never taught how to live an abstinent lifestyle (115). Only fourteen percent of adolescents are not using contraceptives because of a lack of knowledge or a lack of access to birth control (Garth 115). For

In the United States, teenagers face problems everyday from peers, parents, and their environment. He or she is heavily influenced by their feelings. Feelings are overwhelming, confusing, and also conflicting. If he or she is influenced by their friends, then most likely experiments will occur. The teenager can agree or disagree with the situations and dilemmas. However their choice is influence by what the popular crowd is saying and doing. It is a battle of fitting in or being different. The popular crowd can be involved in two main options, sex and drugs. The results of sex without protection and knowledge is teen pregnancy and possible a sexual transmitted disease. Teen pregnancy is a constant never ending problem in this country. The main idea of this paper is to provide statistics about teen pregnancy, what are the social conditions of teen pregnancy, and find a relationship between

Why is teen pregnancy becoming another topic individuals don't talk about? More and more teens everyday are popping out babies left and right. In the United States teens have the most pregnancy and STD’s. Many advisors, and adults in the United States feel as if the problem can't be

As a result of unprotected sex, young people are also at risk of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection. The highest rates of STIs worldwide are among young people aged 15 to 24. Some 500,000 become infected daily (excluding HIV). Two in five new HIV infections globally occur in young people aged 15 to 24. Surveys from 40 countries show that more than half their young people have misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted. Married adolescent girls generally are unable to negotiate condom use or to refuse sexual relations. They are often married to older men with more sexual experience, which puts them at risk of contracting STIs, including HIV.

Teen pregnancy and resulting births present/cause many (related to social pressure, how people act toward each other, etc.) challenges, and as a result require the total (of everything or everyone) efforts of many to provide solutions. Teen pregnancy has been thought about/believed a "social ill" for centuries in the United States and has always challenged moral and (honest and right) thoughts and feelings. The money-based costs of teens giving birth are significant, and there are many forcing/forceful/interesting reasons to reduce the teen pregnancy. Research shows that reducing the number of births to teens and increasing the age at which a women gives birth yields significant cost savings for the (government-run services and their employees). Efforts to reduce teen pregnancy are mainly focused on prevention and sex education is a large part of the effort. Twenty-first century sex education programs focus on two main (success plans/ways of reaching goals), they are: (not doing something) only education and (not doing something) plus education. (not doing something) only teaches that stopping from sexual activity is the only truly effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy. (not doing something) plus education focuses on delaying the beginning of sexual activity and recommends the use of contraception if a teen is sexually active. The success of (not doing something) only education has been (stated that something is much bigger, worse, etc., than it really is) according

As many people know, the world is far from perfect. Every country has their share of problems that plague the citizens. There is crime and violence everywhere, although it may not always be reported. The United States is no exception to this. They are number one for many issues. Among these is the U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rates. The causes of teen pregnancy in the United States today include substance abuse; broken homes; changes in society; and poor sexual education.