Teenage Pregnancy In The United States

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

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.

Teenage pregnancy is linked to many critical social issues, such as poverty, lack of education, out-of-wedlock births, health issues, education, child welfare, and overall child well-being. These issues have been a social problem for decades, but it wasn’t until recent years when it emerged from being social invisibility to becoming an urgent crisis. “In 1995, in his State of the Union address, President Bill Clinton singled out teenage

Birth rates in African American and Hispanic teens are substantially higher than whites, a trend that has persisted for decades. Even though pregnancy rates among teens are at an all time low. It is still a major issue but mostly affecting the urban communities. In this research paper I will be comparing and demonstrating the relationships between teenage pregnancy, social issues, and education.

More than half of black mothers on welfare had their first child as a teenager. In communities common with violence, poverty, and educational deprivation, sexually irresponsible behavior portends a perpetuation of powerlessness and dependence among people. For children born from unplanned and often unwanted pregnancies, poverty, limited access to an acceptable education, and a tendency for repeating the same cycle is often the result. In fact, two-thirds of families begun by a young, unmarried mother are poor. Avoid from teen pregnancy there have been numerous of the thing invented there are different types of condoms and birth control to fit your comfort. Obama care requires insurance plans to cover all FDA-approved forms of birth control for women, could get them greater access to the contraception that they

New Mexico has made significant progress in reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy but the rate remains high among other states in the country. The National Bureau of Economic Research report suggests that the reason for high level of pregnancy rate among American teenagers is an economic context of income inequality. Teenage pregnancy has many social, health and economic consequences that inhibit women from realizing their full potentials. This challenge imposes economic burden on the state in the form of assistance program for single mothers and lost income due to low level skills. For example, in 2010 teenage mothers’ public and health care assistance programs cost the United States government nearly $10 billion including lost income from lower educational attainment and reduce wage among children born to teenage mothers. Studies show that teenage mothers tend to have less education and are poorer than their peers who are not teenage parents. This implies that teenage pregnancy has intergenerational effects that can be seen in the overall development index in the larger

A large majority of people believe that teen pregnancy happens mostly in larger communities and urban settings, but teen pregnancy happens all over the country in even the smallest of communities. Families living in poverty, single parent homes, and children with little discipline are often what come to mind when we hear

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.

This experiment began by diving deep into the lives of 262 low-income, single mothers in Philadelphia. Through conversations with these women, Edin and Kefalas found a common trend among teens regarding the causes and effects of getting pregnant as a low-income young woman.

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).

Teenage pregnancy and parenthood are often seen as strictly negative and problematic, with the moral panic surrounding them only growing as media and government play a role in perpetuating these ideas of negativity surrounding them. Though it is a contentious issue, what are often ignored are the underlying causes of the social phenomena that are teenage pregnancy and parenthood. The experiences of poverty and social exclusion by many pregnant teens and teen parents have not been proven to be more severe than what these young people were experiencing before, so it brings into question the validity of the moral panic as well as the aims of programs meant to decrease teen pregnancy and parenthood. Looking at teen pregnancy and parenthood, first

Exposure to neighborhood poverty throughout childhood has a significant impact of early sexual activity once a child becomes an adolescent. It is believed that youth from impoverished neighborhoods experience higher levels of deprivation because majority of the resources and opportunities are given to those from more privileged areas of town. As a result, teens in impoverished areas feel extremely underprivileged when compared to their surrounding advantaged neighborhoods. The lack of community resources within these disadvantaged neighborhoods can increase the likelihood of unplanned adolescent pregnancies. Research has shown that violence is a critical social characteristic of disadvantaged neighborhoods and a predictor of unplanned pregnancy.

Like Amy and Loeber (2009), when it comes to the ecological paradigm of teenage pregnancy, Corcoran, Franklin, and Bennett (2000) also believe one’s socioeconomic status is a huge factor that contributes to this problem. A person’s socioeconomic status a lot of times determines “education, expanded family size, single-parent household structure, and lessened resources in terms of employment and income.” These three authors claim that educational performance and goals “dictate the potential costs of child bearing at a young age.” Their studies have also shown that teenage girls’ relationships with the school setting and poorer performance in school serve a greater risk for adolescent pregnancy.

"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.

There has been a multitude of assumptions as to why there have been a soaring number of teens living in poverty becoming pregnant. Younger women experiencing poverty, institutional