Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative Paper

Teen pregnancy continues to be a problem in America even though the CDC documents a decrease from 2007-2009 in all racial groups. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). Reducing the number of pregnancies in teens 15-17 is a core indicator identified by Healthy People 2020 to assess the status of adolescent health. Children born to teens are at risk for health concerns from being of low birth weight and having poor prenatal care such as delayed development. (Magness, 2012). Repeat pregnancy, dependence on welfare, and poverty are some of the results of adolescent pregnancy. Teen mothers tend to have health problems such as hypertension, and anemia and are at high risk for early delivery. Magness looks at the issue from the teen’s viewpoint and discusses the idea that some teens become pregnant to provide stability in an otherwise chaotic life and can gain maturity from the experience. Emphasis on continuing their education after delivery can prevent repeat pregnancies. Lack of productive or positive social activities or guidance can leave room for a teen to indulge in risky behavior to occupy their time. Peer pressure and influence from present day norms can cause teenagers to give in to early onset of sexual activity (Kirven, 2014). Finding after school or extracurricular activities can promote a healthier self

One community member, Jay Coffelt, is a long-term resident of Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri. Jay is passionate about researching and awareness of issues like teen pregnancy at the county, state, and national levels. Although not directly involved as a parent of a pregnant teen and not being a teen himself, Mr. Coffelt’s community passion is beneficial in providing insight to the level of community empowerment present in Jackson County, Missouri with regards to a major health issue like teen pregnancy. From a community members’ perspective, it was noted that there seems to be a lack of resources available to pregnant teens and their families as well as a lack of ways community members can be involved in the issue. When asked about his ability to participate in decision making regarding teen pregnancy or to attend forums discussing teen pregnancy, Mr. Coffelt was unsure if those resources were available to him. Another important finding from Mr. Coffelt’s interview was the frequent comparisons he made to an adjacent county in Kansas. Having lived in both counties, Mr. Coffelt was able to recall more available resources, awareness, and guidance for teen health and community members in the adjacent Kansas county compared to Jackson County in Missouri. Through the interview, it was determined that Mr. Coffelt felt an increased level of empowerment. According to Clark, “...empowered individuals gain new skills and power to influence others and to affect the outcomes of

The number of teen pregnancies in Texas by race/ethnicity in 2015 are just as diverse. Teen pregnancy to Non-Hispanic White females was 7,376. Teen pregnancy to Non-Hispanic Black female was 4,619. Teen pregnancy to Hispanic was 22,745. Teen pregnancy to American Indian/Alaska Native was 127 and Asian/Pacific Islander was 267. The rate of teen pregnancies in 2015 by age are girls under 15 was 1 percent, girls 15-17 was 30 percent and girls 18-19 was 69 percent.

Furthermore, the article displays initiative programs to help prevent teenage pregnancy. These programs include The Comprehensive Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (CAPP) and Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) are programs funded by the New York State Department of Health, it is designed to serve our community (Smithbattle, 2012). It provides awareness to the public on the issues of teenage pregnancy and ways to prevent this issue. Although the article focuses on preventive measures, it also includes programs to help young teen mothers such as Woman, Infant, Children (WIC) food services and the Nurse Family Partnership program. WIC is a federal assistance program intended for healthcare and nutrition of low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children under the age of five. The Nurse Family Partnership is a program for first time mothers. First time mothers are assigned a professional nurse that will visit their home up to twice a month for two years. The nurse is able to provide support, guidance and resources to first time mothers. In order to reduce the prevalence of a teenager becoming unintentionally pregnant, prevention through education and awareness is vital in reducing this statistic that burdens our local community.

Teen pregnancy is a growing epidemic in the United States. Teen girls are becoming pregnant at an alarming rate, with a lot of the pregnancies planned. With television shows broadcasting shows such as “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom”, it is giving teenage girls the idea that it is alright to have premarital sex and become pregnant. It is in a way condoning teen pregnancy.

This positive trend is evidence that some of the outreach efforts to which we've committed ourselves as a public health community are working. However, these improvements should not undermine the still considerable task before this same community. Specifically, we have a responsibility to hone our efforts at identifying, understanding and reaching the populations that are most vulnerable as well as helping to reduce the adverse consequences that accompany this vulnerability. The purpose of the present epidemiology is to further the collective understanding of teen pregnancy as a current public health issue.

It has been receiving a great deal of public and official attention recently, including expressions of concern from President Clinton (Trad, 1999). However, the most extensive dilemma regarding the issue of adolescent pregnancy is the question of prevention. Preventing teen pregnancy includes such problems as the availability of birth control, sexual education among children and adolescents, and a greater sense of support for pregnant teens. However, before society can begin to successfully prevent pregnancies among teenage girls, the underlying causes and facts about the dilemma must first be exposed

According to National Women’s Law Center (2014) since 1982, about 1.7 billion has been spend abstinence by federal which proved to be ineffective to reduce teenage pregnancies. One of the reason of its failing was to strictly adhere to the “abstinence education” and prohibiting from teaching teenagers about condoms and contraceptives. This policy failed to address the needs of teenagers who were sexually active or who were engaged in same-sex relationships. To address this issue, and to support adolescent sexual health promotion programs such as Teen Pregnancy Prevention Intervention (TPPI) and (PREP were implemented. The main objectives of these programs were to reduce the teenage pregnancy and to address disparities in teen pregnancy and

“Parental Influence and Teen Pregnancy” is article written by Bill Albert who is part of the national campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy organization. This article was found on the Education.com, it is a website where parents can get information that will help them be a better parents and teach them proper ways to raise their children from a young age. I consider Education.com credible because the website is updated and also because they do research on the tops they talk about and have citation on where they got the information from. For example, they got the article “Parental Influence and Teen Pregnancy” from a different website that is also credible.

This week’s assignment had me take a closer look on how environment truly influences teen pregnancy rates in my community. Teens living in poverty have a greater likelihood of becoming pregnant than teens living in affluent communities. What causes this disparity? Social and environmental factors are in large part responsible for the disparity. The adults in lower- income families are often less educated, have a criminal history, hold low-income jobs, or are unemployed. Lower income communities are plagued by gun violence, gang inhabitance, and the availability of drugs. Teens that become pregnant at an early age, have parents that themselves were pregnant as teens ("Teen Pregnancy Facts, Teen Pregnancy Statistics Teen Pregnancy - Environmental

Teen pregnancy will always be a crucial issue in America. The stress of adulthood alone

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.

How many pregnant teens have there been? Over the years more girls are becoming teen moms. In Oklahoma teen pregnancy has become a problem. Recently Oklahoma has had a pregnancy rate of 47.5% (Tulsa World). Not only is it an issue in Oklahoma but an issue in the United States as a whole. The lack of awareness and how to prevent pregnancy is a reason to blame for the increasing numbers. The more we don’t make people aware of the increasing teen pregnancy rate and how to prevent then the numbers will continue to rise into an astonishing amount. Helping teens know of the different ways to prevent pregnancy can make an enormous difference in teen pregnancy. The issues that have an effect on teen pregnancy rates have been to the use of

"Teen pregnancy in the United States: In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years old, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another record for U.S. teens and a drop of 8% from 2014. Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years. Still, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist (cdc.gov)." As teenagers (in the United States), we are peer pressured or tempted to try new things. Some teens tend to try out drugs, and alcohol. However, some are having unprotected sex in which, is leads to having babies. This is called, teenage pregnancy. This has caused the United States to create records based off of the statistics and facts given from, researchers across the United States. In order to help prevent teenage pregnancy in the United States, teenagers must understand why, having a baby now isn’t such a smart move on their part.

Teen pregnancy is a very controversial social issue and the vast majority of Americans consider the outrageous rate of teen pregnancies a severe issue, certainly a problematic occurrence that is believed to be a moral decline in our country. Teenagers are physiologically capable of reproducing but not emotionally or financially prepared to be parents at such a tender age. Through various research studies a plethora of determinants has pin pointed teens unprecedented pregnancies. One cause of this problem is the apparent indication of social separation or disadvantage. Within this issue you would find poverty, single parent households, educational disadvantages on the parents behalf, a lack family/parental support, and unemployment. A child’s educational performance, inappropriate sexual acts, and inferior apprehensions about their futures play a vital role in teen pregnancies as well. Amongst the listed disadvantages the three that take precedent are lacks of family communication, sexual abuse, and poverty. Furthermore, teen mothers do not fit the ideal ideology of the normative scheduling of motherhood, therefore, ultimately resulting in negative consequences for them and society. What needs to be understood is, as to why the numbers of teens are becoming parents at such a vernal age.