Poverty and Teenage Pregnancy, Essay Example

Teenage pregnancy is one of the greatest social issues faced by any society. Pregnancy brings huge responsibilities for parents especially mothers who have traditionally borne a greater share of bringing up children as compared to men. Teenage girls are still in their adolescence and do not have the maturity level to perform their parenting duties properly. Even though teenage pregnancy is a huge challenge for teenage girls from all economic backgrounds, it is especially harder on teenage girls who come from poor backgrounds. The lower the financial resources, the greater is the need for both the parents to work despite the fact that young children usually require round-the-clock care. In addition, teenage girls from poor background may be forced to leave school as well since they cannot afford caretakers like their higher-income counterparts. Making the matters worse is the fact that the rates of teenage pregnancy are higher in groups at the bottom of economic hierarchy as compared to those at the top of the economic hierarchy.

The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy and birth among comparable countries. 3 in 10 girls in the U.S become pregnant by the age of 20, resulting in over 750,000 teen pregnancies annually. Between 1991 and 2004, teen pregnancies resulted in over six million births. The cumulative public costs of teen child bearing during the same period were $161 billion. Two-thirds of the teenage mothers are estimated to come from poor background and approximately one-quarter of all teenage moms go on welfare within three years of the child’s birth (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2010). A study found that base high school drop-out and teenage pregnancy rates approximately double moving from low to moderate poverty neighborhoods and increase again by quarter to half moving from moderate to high poverty neighborhoods (Harding, 2003). Thus, not only teenage girls from poor backgrounds have a higher probability of getting pregnant as compared to their counterparts from relatively more affluent background but teenage pregnancy in itself also leads to further deterioration of financial conditions.

A study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior found that distress combined with poverty further increases the risk for teen pregnancy. The study also found that teenage mothers have higher levels of stress than their childless peers and older mothers and their distress continues into adulthood. Some women who had given birth as a teenager were still showing signs of more distress than other moms at the age of 40. The study suggested that reducing socioeconomic disadvantages through policies such as income supports might be helpful in preventing both the distress and poverty that increase the risk of girls becoming young moms (Anderson, 2009). The statistics from the U.S foster care system also support the idea that poverty is one of the primary contributors towards teen pregnancy. One survey of child welfare systems in three states founds that approximately half of the girls in the foster care system reported pregnancy by the age of 19 (Johnston, 2010).

Poverty is not only a significant contributor towards teen pregnancy but can also be a consequence. Absent teen fathers pay less than $800 in child support which further increases the economic hardships for teenage moms. Teenage moms are less likely to finish school which translates to lower lifetime earnings. A little more than a third of the mothers who have their first child by the age of 18 obtain high school diploma and only 1 in 50 complete college by the age of 30. Individuals with low education qualifications also suffer more during recessionary economic times. The unemployment rate for U.S residents age 25 and over with bachelor’s degree or higher was only 4.6% while the unemployment rate for U.S residents age 25 and over with a high school diploma or equivalent was 10.3% in August 2010. At the same time, the unemployment rate for those without a high school diploma was a staggering 14%. A child is nine times more likely to grow up in poverty if his mother gave him/her birth as a teenager, is a single mother, and doesn’t have a high school diploma or GED than if none of the above three conditions apply to his/her mother. There is an endless cycle because the children of teenage moms are less likely to graduate from high school and high school dropouts are more likely to become teenage moms (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, 2010).

The American political establishment has usually held the belief that teen pregnancy is one of the primary causes of poverty. They responded by enacting the welfare reform act of 1996 that was aimed at curbing teenage pregnancies and promotion of marriage values. But there are some who argue that poverty is not a consequence but rather a contributor towards teen pregnancies and Professor Frank Furstenberg of the University of Pennsylvania is one of them. In a presentation prepared for the 11^th annual conference of the Council on Contemporary Families, Professor Furstenberg reported that teen motherhoods tend to occur among people already trapped in poverty and postponing motherhood doesn’t make much of a difference in people’s chances of escaping poverty. In short, Professor Furstenberg suggested that reducing poverty rather than sex education and abstinence training is a more effective way of reducing teen pregnancies (Furstenberg). There may be disagreements over whether teen pregnancy increases the probability of poverty but most experts do seem to agree that poverty does increase the probability of teen pregnancy.

The supporters of Professor Furstenberg’s position may state the fact that two-third of teenage moms already live at or below the poverty line at the time of birth. In 2007, UNICEF ranked U.S second to last among 21 developed western nations in child health, safety, and material well being. Thus, reducing poverty rates among teenage kids may also help reduce teenage pregnancies. In addition, it may also be that affluent women are usually educated and have more control over their lives. In addition, affluent and educated women are also more likely to use contraceptives. Impoverished girls may also be less able to afford abortions or simply avoid it due to being taboo in poor communities (Zimmerman, 2008). Some data suggest that a high pregnancy rate among teens from impoverished backgrounds is also due to their low opportunity costs. Because such teens have little opportunity for work, the cost of pregnancy to them is low as compared to women who might have to forego career opportunities. Some also believes that the decline in the U.S teen pregnancy rate over the last decade is the outcome of economic expansion (Rich-Edwards). Studies have also shown that most adolescent mothers have already dropped out of school before they become pregnant. In addition, adolescent still in school who become mothers are as likely to graduate as their peers (The Family Connection of Saint Joesph County, Inc.).

There are also several other factors that are considered to increase the risk of teenage pregnancy poor school performance, growing up in a single parent household, having a mother who was also an adolescent mother, or having a sister who also becomes pregnant. But more studies have been done on the link between poverty and teen pregnancy than most other factors and almost all of them have found a strong co-relation between poverty and the risk of teenage pregnancy. Thus, expanding economic opportunities for poor teens and improving the graduation rates of high school students will help further lower teenage pregnancy rates in the U.S because it will pull out more young people from poor backgrounds and give them hope for a bright future.

References

Anderson, P. (2009, July 31). Distress Combined With Poverty Increases Risk for Teen Pregnancy. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/706812

Furstenberg, F. (n.d.). Teen Pregnancy and Poverty: 30-Year-Study Confirms That Living in Economically-Depressed Neighborhoods, Not Teen Motherhood, Perpetuates Poverty. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.standardnewswire.com/news/239782184.html

Harding, D. J. (2003, November). Counterfactual Models of Neighborhood Effects: The Effect of Neighborhood Poverty on Dropping Out and Teenage Pregnancy. AJS , pp. 676-719.

Johnston, J. E. (2010, February 1). How to Get a Teenager Pregnant: Combine Emotional Distress, Poverty and Conservative Religious Beliefs. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-equation/201002/how-get-teenager-pregnant-combine-emotional-distress-poverty-and-cons

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. (2010, September 28). Teenage Pregnancy and the Cycle of Poverty. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.misacor-usa.org/index.php/teenage-pregnancy-and-the-cycle-of-poverty

National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (2010, March). Linking Teen Pregnancy Prevention to Other Critical Social Issues. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/why-it-matters/pdf/introduction.pdf

Rich-Edwards, J. (n.d.). Teen pregnancy is not a public health crisis in the United States. It is time we made it one. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/3/555.full

The Family Connection of Saint Joesph County, Inc. (n.d.). Teenage Pregnancy. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://community.michiana.org/famconn/teenpreg.html

Zimmerman, J. (2008, September 4). Poverty, not sex ed, key factor in teen pregnancy. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-09-04/opinion/17157651_1_comprehensive-sex-education-teen-pregnancy-abstinence-only