The Socio Economic Factors Of Teenage Pregnancy

Teen pregnancy is surprisingly decreasing over the years. According to Farber, “the most recent studies have shown that there has been a decrease in the rate of pregnancies among all teenagers and among sexually active teenagers (16). Although this issue seems is decreasing this is still a problem faced by many teenage girls today. Each year, 7.5 percent of all 15-19 year old women become pregnant (Maynard 1). Not only does this issue affects the pregnant teen but it also affects the economy. Teen pregnancy affects graduation rates. Many teen mothers cite pregnancy as the key reason of them not finishing school. Only 40 percent of teen mothers finish high school (Teen Pregnancy Affects Graduation Rates). The 60 percent of teen mothers

Teenage birth rates, defined as live births per one thousand 15-19-year-old US females, declined by 10% from 2012 to 2013 from 29.4 to 26.5. In fact, the birth rate has been on a steady decline over the past 20 years, from 61.8 in 1991 to 26.5 in 2013. Teenage pregnancy represents both a health and social inequality in our society. Specifically, teenage childbearing is a public health issue because teenage mothers are more likely to experience negative social outcomes such as dropping out of school. This is a self-reinforcing cycle, as children of teenage mothers face higher chances of poor academic achievement as well as getting pregnant or getting someone else pregnant in their teenage years (CDC). Although the overall rates of teenage pregnancy have dropped, ultimately, the variations in the rates reflect the intersecting disparities regarding race and ethnicity, income inequality, geography, and environmental factors, which in turn affect access to medical care, education, and resources.

Young mothers tend to struggle to feed their children especially if they are single parents and they have to work. In research, done by Penman-Aguilar, Carter, Senead, and Kourtis, it explained the socioeconomic disadvantages related to the social determinant of teen childbearing. They first explained that the birth rate among teenagers in the United States has decreased drastically during the past few years, but they also explained that even though the numbers have dropped teens having a child so young can limit ones social and financial well-being (Penman-Aguilar et al. 2013, pg. 6). The researchers’ as well explained that teen motherhood has substantial costs for both the mother and the infant; teen motherhood can be considered that it is an indicator of suboptimal sexual health. According to Penman-Aguilar et al. (2013), social determinants of health are “complex, integrated, and overlapping social structures and economic systems are linked to lack of opportunity and to a lack of resources to protect, improve, and maintain health” (pg. 6), here it is explained that teen motherhood can be beyond the family or the individual. This was an important part of the opening of their research because it explains how there are possible theories about community-level socioeconomic factors may also contribute to teen

There are numerous social disadvantages of children born of teenage mothers. Due to the mother not being finished growing, limited opportunities for education or the factor of being a single parent add as stress factors that impact young children. According to Dr. Julia Morinis, lead author and researcher for the Centre for Research on Inner City Health of St. Michael’s Hospital, “It’s likely that being a teen mother is a risk factor that indicates poorer circumstance for development in some cases.”

In the article “Teenage Births: Outcomes for Young Parents and their Children “the Schuyler Center touches on many important topics concerning teenage pregnancy and parenting. The foundation speaks on how teenage pregnancy is a global issue and explains why teens often get pregnant along with the hardships that come with it. Although, according to them “teen pregnancy rates are at the lowest level in 20 years. . . ” (page 3) it is very apparent that being a young mother will defiantly effect your education and your child future.

Research has outlined that “teen mothers have lower levels of socioeconomic attainment than their childless peers: they are less likely to complete high school, attend college, or earn a bachelor’s degree, and they tend to earn less and are more likely to experience poverty” (INFORMATION). Another social work perspective focuses on the stress associated with a rapid role transition. “Specifically, an accelerated transition to motherhood may result in adverse psychological effects for the teen”(INFORMATION) Research suggests that some young teens view the role of motherhood as a positive turning point in their lives. That is can be motivating and help to avoid delinquency, return to school, and search for employment. Further Research also has found that some young teen mothers expierence a heightened sense of responsibility and stability. It is suggested these positive expiernece occur most commonly to those teens expiernece issues with schooling, and in a home setting. Research has conistantly explained that maltreatment is a significant risk factor for teen pregnancy among low income youth even after controlling for neighborhood disadvantage, other caregiver risks and indicators of individual emotional and behavioral problems. The most well known health risks that are consistent but not always associated with teen pregnancy and childbearing are low birth weight, preterm birth. However, pregnant teens generally face other challenges that are also known to affect maternal and infant outcomes. These include maternal income, educational attainment, employment prospects, and mental and physical health. Going forward, children of teen mothers may have deficits in cognitive, academic, mental health, and psychosocial domains when compared to children of older mothers. Teens that give birth are likely to face exacerbation of preexisting cumulative psychosocial adversity after the

Motherhood is cross-culturally regarded as vitally important. Historically, the concept of motherhood was defined as a woman 's primary “mission, profession, and an inseparable part of her nature,” (Leskosek 2011). In contemporary society, however, negative social and biological consequences are associated with young maternity in developed areas (Kramer et al. 2010). Teenage pregnancy is defined as encompassing all pregnancies between the ages of 10 and 19, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (Males 1992). According to a 2010 study, teen motherhood is “discouraged, debated as a public health issue and considered a societal problem in developed populations,” (Kramer et al). Despite this, about 750,000 of the 20 million adolescent girls in the United States become pregnant every year (Macionis 2013). Rates of juvenile pregnancy and birth rates are significantly higher in the U.S. than in other Western countries (Basch 2011). Additionally, Dr. Naomi Farber, author of Adolescent Pregnancy: Policy and Prevention Services, asserts that, “Over one-third of all births in the U.S. are outside of marriage, and about 88% of all childbearing teens are unmarried,” (2014). Teen mothers are often subject to extended periods of loneliness, loss of educational and employment opportunities, and lower income than older mothers (Simigiu 2012). Clearly, adolescent pregnancy is a widespread problem in today’s society. Studies have shown that the transition into parental roles and

Kearney and Levine (2012) explore two goals 1) understanding why the teen birth rate is so high in the US and 2) and understanding why it matters. The authors explore different sources of information to put current rates of teen births into perspective. Kearney et al. (2012) explore teen birthrates joint with pregnancy, abortion and “shotgun” marriage rates as a well as the antecedent behaviors of sexual activity and contraceptive use. The study found that being on a low economic route in life leads many teenage girls to have children while they are young and unmarried and that poor endings seen later in life are simply the extension of the low economic route (Kearney and Levine,

Social forces play a role in our life much more often that one can conceive. Simple choices and decisions are influenced by one 's culture, religion, economic status, the degree of education, or even where one lives. How have these struggles to conform to societal norms shaped the person we are today?

While exploring the problem and symptoms of teenage drinking. It was determined that drinking was one of the many causing factors in which we came across when it came to teenage pregnancies. Of course teenage pregnancy must be looked at on a case-by-case basis. It was found that there are multiple causes, symptoms that can take place in the youth daily lives to create the environment conducive to the problem. Some of the events that take place are things like skipping school or dropping out of school. Emotional stress is another factor affecting the youth who are getting pregnant because the youth are not receiving the proper support at home, many feel no one cares. Becoming a struggling teen parent has caused many teens to suffer from depression. Another issue that arises from teenagers becoming parents has been the effect it has had on the social and economic cost of our society due to high birth rates. The fact that most teenagers have no social or economic means to sufficiently sustain themselves and a child. The study further claims that the minorities, Latinos and Blacks have had a higher risk of teen pregnancy thereby costing taxpayers billions. The CDC states “only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, versus approximately 90% of women who had not given

Out of the 750,000 teenagers that get pregnant annually, about 30 percent drop out of high school to take on the parenting role which majorly affects the United States economy because each drop out totals to 260,000 dollars (Culp-Ressler 2012). Unfortunately for many cases, the parenting role is completed singlehandedly, meaning that the father figure is missing (CFT 2004). Thus, teen pregnancy is depicted by society as interference for women to achieve their goal of entering the work force and ruins the independent character that women attempt to build during World War II. Because the role of a woman in society today no longer focuses on family formation but instead concentrates on building to attain a stable career, many seek for alternatives such as abortion or adoption. According to Live Strong, a health organization, 27 percent of teenagers who become pregnant will resort to termination of the pregnancy, and about one to two percent decides to put their child up for adoption (Marchick 2011). As a leading consequence for young women who decide to keep their child, about 80 percent these young mothers do not meet the financial needs end up living in poverty where many depend on welfare as their economic support (Marchick

Young girls at that age are considered vulnerable and many seek psychological help to overcome the traumatic event. Children born to teen mothers can develop blindness, deafness, mental, respiratory and cerebral problems. Also the low birth weight puts the child at greater risk of dying as infants. Other social problem that pregnant teenagers face is economy. Most teenage girls struggle to finish school and earn a degree. Pregnant teenage girls live in poverty due to the lack of financial and educational stability. For instance, a study found that “low-income teens received such instruction 44% of the time, compared with 62% of higher-income teens. That disparity is particularly troubling, supporters say, because low-income and black and Hispanic teens are more prone to teen pregnancy than teens in general”. In most cases low income families are always struggling to provide to the family and adding teenage girls just makes the situation even worst. The lack of experience, financial and educational stability can limit the options of the child to succeed in life. The author of Teen Pregnancy: Does learning about birth control in school help prevent teen pregnancy? suggest that “teen pregnancy is often cited as a factor that perpetuates the cycle of poverty, since teen mothers are likely to be poor in the first place, and their children are likely to grow up to be poor. As a

Many researchers have tried to explain why young women living in poverty are more likely to have kids in their teens, and have concluded that growing up with few economic disparities can lead young women to choose teen parenting. The cycle of poverty and teen pregnancy is a controversial topic in today’s society, and has many contributing factors. Teenage pregnancy is an effect of poverty and economic immobility, not a cause. Studies reveal many different factors such as limited access to health care, poverty, state geography, state culture, low educational attainment, sex-education, and unemployment contribute to teen pregnancies in America. Impoverished teens often do not see the importance of avoiding pregnancy. They often feel uninterested to work toward future planning because they may lack a

Adolescent parenthood has been an issue of public concern for many years. Adolescent parenthood has been the subject of numerous articles, public health reports, and public debate. So what makes adolescent parenthood such a popular topic of discussion and a reoccurring social problem? How does an adolescent parent relate to such public issues as education, poverty, and family? Researchers conduct literature reviews and original research in an effort to find a resolution to decrease adolescent pregnancy/parenthood and methods to improve the quality of life for adolescent parents. Although these articles share many themes and patterns, often their reason for conducting the research, methods, conclusion, and belief regarding adolescent pregnancy and parenthood differ.

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.