Despite teenage pregnancy rates dropping more than fifty percent in recent years, it is within the Hispanic community that teen pregnancy continues to remain a serious public and social issue. When compared to other ethnic sectors in the United States, Hispanic females continue to hold a higher birth rate than others, being twice more than that of non-Hispanics. In general, there are the many apparent obstacles and consequences when dealing with this situation. Young adult parents must overcome educational, financial, and emotional problems months before their child is born.
Though there are numerous prevention programs being geared towards the situation of teen pregnancy, there are few programs specifically designed for Hispanic populations.
Teenage pregnancy has been viewed as an issue for many years, not only for teenage mothers but for babies as well. Much importance has been placed on this subject for the reason that although these rates are declining, they remain elevated. The United States represents over 600,000 American teen pregnancies every year, making this the highest rate in the industrialized world (Steinberg, 2017). Unfortunately, ethnic minorities in the United States have a predisposition to the many social, educational and economic disadvantages that in fact shape adolescent sexual behavior and lead to the decision of adolescent motherhood. This paper will illustrate teenage pregnancy rates over the last few years, the factors that impact teen pregnancy, contraception and the likelihood of teen pregnancies across different ethnic groups.
The incidence of teen births in the United States has reached a historic all time low throughout the last couple of years but teen girls are still giving birth to 1700 babies a week. However, minorities are still amongst the highest group of teenagers having children among the age group between 15 and 19 years of age. The highest ethnic groups were comprised of Hispanics and Non-Hispanic blacks making up 57% of all US teen births in 2011, according to a study done by the CDC in 2011. American Indians and Alaskan Natives had the third highest birth rates at about 36 births per 1000 females. The smallest occurrence of teen births per 1000 came from the Asian/Pacific Islander population. However, the continuously low population group with teen pregnancies involved White individuals so the question remains, why are most minority groups more likely to give birth within their teenage years?
Cultural beliefs, economic disparities, and social environment have all influenced unplanned pregnancies for latinas in Los Angeles. To aid in the prevention of unplanned pregnancies in Latino communities in Los Angeles, policymakers have readily accessible education in regards to Latina’s sexual and reproductive health. In addition to education, contraceptives and abortion should be easily accessible, to the Latino community, thus reducing the amount of Latinas continuing on forth with unplanned pregnancies, which perhaps can be
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is a nonprofit organization that helps teenagers that have never been pregnant yet. This articles cites many sources and has been fact checked.
Teen pregnancy is more prevalent in the United States, than one would think. Even though the number of pregnancies has lowered, there are still an estimated 31pregnancies per 1000 teens. Unfortunately, there are immense consequences from teen pregnancy. These occurrences are due to many circumstances that can be changed, such as, more education, peer pressure, and today’s culture. However, there are ways to prevent all this from happening; using contraception, being aware, or even abstaining from it. Teen pregnancy is an ongoing issue in our country with many causes that can be changed by taking preventative measures to keep teens from suffering consequences that will change their lives forever.
In the National Survey of Family Growth, hispanic adolescents were reported to be twice as likely than white or black peers to be pleased with the information of their pregnancy. It was also concluded that while there is an increased desire for childbearing, situations such as suitable partnership are more important in influencing the decision of early pregnancy. Other factors that are important to consider the rate of latina early childbirth, was self- esteem and educational expectations. In the article Teenage Pregnancy Among Latinas, It was reported that teens who have parents with less than a high school education are more likely to be sexually active at early
With Hispanic teenagers accounting for over a quarter of teenage pregnancy there are many factors affecting the Hispanic communities and families that cause these numbers to be so high. And at 53% of Hispanic females becoming pregnant at least once by the time they are 20 years old is an extremely large percentage that causes the Hispanic populace to have the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the country. Poverty is another root of teenage pregnancy among Hispanic youth. What has been seen in history in the U.S. is the endless spiral that faces families that are in poverty. When one young woman becomes pregnant her child if female has a 22% increased chance of becoming a pregnant teenager herself. With this comes the possibility of
Teenage childbearing is serious social problem in the United States. The rates of teen parenting are at is lowest, but the numbers still remain an issue. Teen parenting has been associated with negative outcomes for the parents and their children. Many teenage parents and their families are unaware of the disparities when becoming a teen parent. With outcomes of teen childbearing being identified, teen pregnancy prevention needs to be further addressed. Addressing teen pregnancy and methods of prevention will help strengthen families and promote healthy development in the future. Evidence- based teen pregnancy programs, parent involvement, and community involvement need to be implemented to help decrease teen pregnancies and rates and sexual risk behaviors; a comprehensive approach would be the most beneficial for youth.
Even though the teen pregnancy and birth rates have dropped by one-third over the past decade, teen pregnancy in the United States is a growing problem. According to data by the National Center for Health Statistics and other official data, one in three girls still become pregnant by the age of twenty. In the United States one million adolescent girls become pregnant every year causing the U.S. to be the leader of the developed world in teen pregnancy. One in four of these teen girls will have a second baby within twenty four months and in 2010, a survey showed that only one in ten of these unwed mothers, ages fifteen to seventeen, received child support from the father. As citizens of the United States this is a time when we all need to pull together and help to change the future before it is too late. Many things can cause teen pregnancy but many things can prevent it or at least slow it down such as sexual abuse, poor life circumstances, parents ' attitudes, drugs and alcohol use, and exploitation by older men.
Teen mothers are at an increased risk for having subsequent births due to multidimensional and complex needs. These risks contain complex social and economic aspects and public health issues. These mothers appear to have a recurring theme associated with “poorer medical, educational, economic and parenting outcomes” (Barnet et al., 2009, p. 435). Factors that affect these teen mothers appear to be multi-disciplinary, and therefore the efficacy of such interventions has been difficult to determine. Risk factors that seem to be prevalent with an increase in subsequent pregnancies among teen mothers include emotional and psychological aspects as well as race, poverty, school concerns, and inconsistent use of contraception. A number of programs have been implemented as an intervention to reduce secondary teen pregnancies. Examination of different methodologies aimed at prevention confirms that an integrated or multi-disciplinary approach appears to be most successful. Such programs address reproductive health needs, preventative care, and effective parenting behavior for the teenage mother, including a broad scope of services aimed at life’s concerns, and promotion of social skills.
On the family side of the responsibility burden sharing, the teenage mom and her own parents, if they decide to be involved, bear more of the unintended consequences of premature pregnancy. The teenage father, usually 3 to 5 years older than mom is always an absent role player in most cases. In a large number of cases teenage father is either unemployed, unwilling to take responsibility or trapped in incarceration. Suffice to note that disparities in race, socioeconomic or even geo-cultural settings determine to what extent teenage pregnancy may be a problem; so also the teenage mom’s family willingness and
Despite the fact that having a baby is a beautiful thing in life, having a baby at a young age can ruin a teenager’s life. Teen pregnancy a big problem worldwide, but a bigger one in Bullhead City, Arizona. Since Bullhead City has one of the highest percentages for teen pregnancy in Arizona, people know it’s a big problem. Not only are those teens throwing their life away by not finishing school and stopping to raise the child, but they’re also ruining other people life too. Babies are very expensive; some teenage parents don’t have the money or even a job to provide for their kids and have to ask the government for the help.
Teen pregnancy is a touchy topic to those who had a child at a young age. Although, the unprivileged neighborhoods are more likely to have children at a young age teen pregnancy has increased worldwide. Young women who give birth at a young age challenge themselves on the prerequisites of parenting upon
Of all the industrialized nations, the United States has the highest rate for teenage pregnancy. In the United States, 3 in 10 teenage girls will get pregnant before they turn 20 years old which means that at least 750,000 teenage pregnancies will occur every year. In 2011, teen pregnancy was at the lowest it had ever been in the past four decades which sparked a chain reaction. For girls ages 15-19, around 553,000 pregnancies occurred in 2011. This was the beginning of the decline for teenage pregnancy in the United States. By taking a look at the different effects that teen pregnancy has on the mothers, such as stereotypes, negative attitudes, and cultural influences, people can begin to understand the pressure that is placed upon these young mothers.
There are many factors when it comes to which teenagers are most likely to get pregnant. These factors consist of race, the country they live in, and economic status. Starting with race, whites have a significantly lower rate of teenage pregnancy than those who are Hispanic or African American. White and African American teenage pregnancies have both gone down while Hispanic teenage pregnancy has gone up in the last 15 years (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 1998). Even though Hispanic teenagers tend to be sexually active later in their adolescence, studies have proven that they are less likely to use birth control; increasing the likelihood of becoming pregnant. Once pregnant they are less likely to abort than Whites or African Americans leading to a higher rate of Hispanic teenage pregnancies (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 1998). While race plays a big role, what country you live in also contributes to your chances of being pregnant as a teenager. “In fact, at the beginning of this decade, the rate of teenage births was almost twice as high in the United States as in the country with the next highest rate, Great Britain; more than 4 times greater than those of Sweden and Spain; 7 times greater than those of Denmark and the Netherlands; and 15 times greater than that of Japan” (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 1998, p. 152). Some researchers argue that because the United States is so diverse the teenage pregnancy rate is much higher but White teenagers in the U.S. still have higher pregnancy