Teenage Pregnancy In The United States

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 recent years, teenage pregnancy has been labeled a major issue amongst teens that it can be known as an “Epidemic.” Is teenage pregnancy directly responsible for a host of society’s ills? Increasing teenage pregnancy rate translates directly into increasing rates of “school failure,” early behavioral problems, drug abuse, child abuse, depression, and crimes. Many social problems can be directly attributed to the poor choices of teenage girls.

Even though teenage pregnancy rates have decreased in the U.S. in recent years, the rates are far behind European countries. Studies have shown that U.S. teenagers have (a) high rates of sexual intercourse at a younger age, (b) high rates of sex without contraceptives, (c) high rates of pregnancy, (d) and high number of multiple sex partners in comparison to European countries like Sweden, France, Netherland (Bell, 2009).

An ongoing epidemic in the United Sates is teen pregnancy. In America, our society is run down by many problems. Most are caused by the older generation, but this problem has risen with the younger generation around the age of 15-19. The peak of the teen pregnancy trend started in 1990 when 60 teen girls out of 1,000 had a teen birth ("About Teen Pregnancy.”). For every 1,000 females in 2013, on average only 27 out of the 1,000 had gone through teen birth ("About Teen Pregnancy.”). Over the years, it seems that the trend is winding down and that less and less teens appear to becoming pregnant. In 2013, the teen pregnancy rate decreased by 10% since 2012 and 57% 1990 ("Teen Birth Rate | The National Campaign.”).

Teen Pregnancy and the Link to Poverty in the U.S. with A Focus on Western Ma Especially Holyoke and Springfield Mass

Adolescent pregnancy is a widely researched and debated topic in psychology. Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have dropped significantly over the last two decades from 6.2% in 1990 to 2.7% in 2013, a 56% decrease, for women aged 15-19. Despite the sharp decline, concerns about the consequences of adolescent childbearing have not decreased.

The issue being addressed is teen pregnancy rates in the United States. We can measure this problem by giving statistics on teen pregnancy related information and by describing the magnitude of the problem. Teen pregnancy exists everywhere in the world but the main focus of this policy memo is going to be that of the United States.

Each year around 90,000 adolescents become pregnant in the United States. Around 51% of adolescents pregnancies end in live births, 35% end up in induced abortions, and 14% result in miscarriage or stillbirth (Frick, 2007). Historically, the highest teen pregnancy rates in the United States were during the 1950’s and 1960’s before the legalization of abortion and the development of many the current forms of contraception(Frick, 2007). Rates enlarged steadily until 1991; since then, the birth rate among teenagers has decreased 35% for 15-17 year olds(Frick, 2007). Three in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That is nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year. In 2013, there were 26.6 births for every 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19, or 274,641 babies born to females in this age group. To prevent teen pregnancy, we should teach them abstinence, safe sex by using protection, and communication skills to discuss prevention from peer pressure.

Thinking clockwise the most broadly affected stakeholders would be the taxpayers, which are indirectly affected by teen pregnancy. According to the Office of Adolescent Health, teen pregnancies cost the United States taxpayers $9.4-$28 billion a year though public assistance payments, lost tax revenue, and greater expenditures for public health care, foster care, and criminal justice services (Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing). There have also been many government-funded programs with the intent of preventing teen pregnancy. Until recent years the government’s thoughts were that the only way to be sure there are no teen pregnancies is to promote abstinence until marriage (Melby 1). With in the years of 2001-2009 3.1 billion taxpayer dollars were spent delivering this message to American

(Introduction) Since the late 1990s teenage pregnancy in the United States has declined. In the United States teenagers become sexually active earlier than those in other countries. The vast majority of teenagers who are sexually active do not use any type of protection. Since this is not being done it allows the rate of unexpected pregnancies to be higher than if protection was being used. Teenagers start early having sexual intercourse for various reasons such as sexual pleasure, intimacy with someone special, or to increase his/her social status. According to Manlove, Steward-Steng, Perterson, Scott & Wildsmith (2013), in the United States five hundred thousand teenage girls between the ages of thirteen to eighteen years of age give birth

In just the year of 2014 249 hundred thousand babies were born by women ages fifteen-nineteen (CDC.Gov). This many babies being born by women this age are adding a large dependency ratio in america. Teen pregnancy is a declining problem in America but it is still a problem that should not be ignored.

For decades teen pregnancy has been a social problem in our society. According to Paschal, Wodarski and Feit (2006), “Nearly one million teen pregnancies between the ages of 15 and 19 take place each year in the United States. A majority of the available research is focused on the teen mother.” (p.106). Even though we have seen a decrease over the past decade; teen pregnancy continues to be an issue of concern with a higher number of pregnancies seen in the African American community. The United States reports a greater number of teen pregnancies compared to other countries. In recent years, the United States has had the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy of any of the world’s developed nations (Santelli, Lindberg, Finer, and Singh, 2007).

One crucial question is what is the rate of teen pregnancies in the United States? According

Studies show that black and Latina girls have that highest teenage pregnancy rate compared to other races of girls. Black and Latina girls are more than twice as likely as white or indian girls to become pregnant before they leave adolescence.While dramatic declines among Hispanic and black teens (51 percent and 44 percent, respectively) have helped reduce gaps, birth rates remain twice as high for these teens nationally compared with white teens .It varies all across the U.S. and even county by county, the team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said “the reasons are sadly familiar: high unemployment rates, parents who have less education, and high poverty levels”. Black and Hispanic girls are prone to have

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.