In society today, teen pregnancy is very well known and over the years has become extremely common. It is so common in fact that it is a sociological issue that has devastated society in recent years. While rates of teen pregnancy have declined since 2014, it is still sociologically important and has become such an outraged topic in today’s world. It is crucial to consider that rates are higher in the U.S than any other country, the effects on young bodies, and the contribution to anxiety and depression in young adults.
Teen pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is when a female between the ages of 13 and 20 becomes impregnated. The statistics conclude that four in ten girls get pregnant at least before age 20. Teen pregnancy happens all over the world and is something known as a social problem in the Unites States. Not only in the U.S. are the teen pregnancy rates high but along comes Russia that falls second to the U.S and, then the United Kingdom. In places like Japan teen pregnancy rates are very low.
In countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands pregnancy fall under the Japan rates because teen pregnancy isn’t much of a controversial in those areas. Since I am a woman that lives in the United States, I decided to do some research and enlighten myself on my very own country. In the United States the top five states with the highest pregnancy rates are New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Texas. The lowest pregnancy rates were in Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, and New Hampshire. As far as the different races; Latinas have a higher teen birth rate then the African Americans and Caucasians. As of 2016 Latinas had the highest birth rate at 42 births per 1,000 teens! African Americans were at 39 births per 1,000 and Caucasians birth rates were at 19 births per 1,000. Although teen pregnancy rates have declined over the years, the U.S rates are still one of the highest.
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There are many causes of teen pregnancy. According to CNN, the following causes of teenage pregnancy happen for various reasons. Poverty can be one of the reasons and can have a huge effect in teenage pregnancy. This struggle can help create complications that can be the reason why there are lack of resources available for teens in households. A child growing up in a broken home, or where they are living in a household with single parenting can lead to teen pregnancy as well. Having that extra mother and father figure in your life, studies show it plays a big part. Having child or teen living in a HEALTHY household with both parents brings a different way of life, it brings family structure.
When you don’t have that family support or guidance sometimes peer pressure or some type of influence, whether it be social or environmental is easy to creep up on you. Around the ages of 13-19 it is very easily to be influenced socially by the crowd. Reality shows air on national television for just about anyone to see. People of all ages are seeing how these teenage moms make being pregnant at a young age ‘fun’. The lack of knowledge on teen pregnancy and the consequences also can cause teen pregnancy. If more teens understood what complications and consequences that are capable of happening, they would be a little bit more cautious. Lastly, in worse causes rape at a young age can occur and cause teen pregnancy.
Teen pregnancy is an important issue for several reasons. It has a severe effect on the body. There are different health risks for the baby as well as the mother. Teenage mothers are most likely to suffer health problems as well as more likely prone to dying during child birth. Their bodies are not physically ready for childbirth and their pelvises are smaller than a woman who were passed their teenage years so they have a higher risk in suffering in labor. This is how issues such as ectopic pregnancies come about. In teen pregnancy ectopic pregnancies are very common. An Ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus. Globally, about 50,000 teenage girls die each year in pregnancy and child birth due to ectopic pregnancies. It is known that if the teenage mom doesn’t end passing away during the process of child birth, most teenage pregnancies result in premature labor. One million babies born to adolescent girls die before their first birthday.
Anxiety and depression plays a big factor in a teen who is pregnant. Most teen moms are still in school and they become depressed because they end up having to drop out of school whether it be from anxiety of the school work or just being around the other students. They either stay in school until they hit about six or seven months pregnant where they can’t walk around as much or they drop out of school sooner because of the embarrassment they feel for being pregnant during their teenage years. Another reason why anxiety and depression comes about is because the father may be so young they don’t have a stable job to financially support.
To financially support a new born baby is a huge task and it will be hard to support or provide for the child. Both parents usually fall into depression unless they have a very supportive family or some sort of support system. Some families become disappointed in child for having a child so young they tend to look down on them. In some cases, parents stop speaking to the child and then it can mentally hurt the child because they are not receiving that support they need at the time. At the age of 19, I became pregnant and at that time it was very hard to bare. I didn’t have the support from my family.
Pregnancy is supposed to be a wonderful thing but it tended to feel like a burden. Speaking on experience sometimes teen pregnancy and lowers self-esteem because they feel like everyone is looking down on them. The saddest case is when a teenager is raped and becomes pregnant because they are then reminded of their situation. Not everyone’s teen pregnancy story is the same. I also decided to interview my friend who also was young girl who became pregnant at the age of 17. My friend had a different experience during her teen pregnancy stage.
She herself had older sisters who has been through the same predicament so her family was very supportive. The only issue she came across was the embarrassment from her peers and classmates at school. There were rumors going around about her and she was labeled a “whore” or most people said she was a young girl who moved to “fast”. Mentally this damaged her and she ended up dropping out of school before her junior year of high school was over. “How did it feel walking around the hallways with people judging you?” I asked. “Very depressing, I felt as though people looked down on me for my actions, making up rumors.”
Teen pregnancy is sociologically important because it is happening so much that its becoming so common and socially acceptable. There are reality shows such as Teen Mom and 16 and pregnant that exposes kids at a young age to things like sex and how it is okay to be a teenager and pregnant. Yes, being a teenager and pregnant isn’t a bad thing and you can’t scold someone for their mistakes, but there’s a lot of complications and consequences that come along with it.
The main way to prevent teen pregnancy is encouraging the younger kids to not have sex at such a young age and if they do decide to have sex use effective birth control method along with condoms to prevent against sexually transmitted diseases. You can’t tell someone not to have sexual intercourse because people are going to do as they please but at least giving them options to go about it the right way. Giving a child options and giving them knowledge on the topic pregnancy makes high rates for teenage pregnancy decrease in numbers. Schools need to have sexual education courses as a mandatory classes and not just electives in these high schools, so that when they hear more about sex to help them take caution.
Improve the teen’s knowledge on contraception, unintended pregnancy and reproductive health. If the schools aren’t a help it is now the parent’s time to take over. I know most parents don’t like having the ‘Birds and Bee’s’ talk so soon but I think if I knew about it at a younger age things would’ve been different. Explaining safe sex is very important because sometimes as women we love hard and fall under PEER PRESSURE of the man and it in cases it is vice versa. Letting them know if they do decide to have sex that young explain to them the consequences.
Back when I was attending middle school and high school there wasn’t much classes that informed you of teenage pregnancy. Now this day and age teen pregnancy is so common that there are so many programs that schools offer as well to help educate the students. Although there are many other social problems in the world, teen pregnancy should also be listed as one of the top. I now came to acknowledge that you don’t even have to attend sexual education classes to enlighten yourself on teen pregnancy. They now have centers like Planned Parenthood that help you learn on the topic teen pregnancy.
In conclusion teen pregnancy has been labeled as a major social problem. Despite the many prevention programs that are available, teen pregnancy persists worldwide. It is a crisis that concerns the parent, the baby, as well as other members of the family. It is pertinent that this issue be discussed as education is an important method to prevention. It is not solely teenage girls but also teenage boys that must be informed of the importance of safe sex and abstinence. The rates of teen pregnancy in the U.S still skyrocket in comparison to other countries which speaks volumes that we are in crisis, as well as the severe impact to biology in female anatomy and severe mental health effects.
References
- CDC – Teen Pregnancy
- Teen Pregnancy and Socioeconomic Disadvantage: The Case of Teen Births in Mexico
- Teenage pregnancy in high school students in Northern Tanzania: prevalence, reasons and consequences
- KidsHealth – Teens and Teenage Pregnancy
- Predictors of Repeat Pregnancies Among Adolescents: NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development Findings
- Teen Pregnancy – American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- Psychological Impact of Teenage Pregnancy on Pregnant Adolescents
