Pregnancy Teenager, Research Paper Example

Psychology Today-2010-Pregnancy Teenager

“Nearly 46% of all American teenagers between the ages of 15-19 admitted they have had sex at least one time in their life.” (“Facts on American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, 2010).

Amazingly all it takes is one time having sex during the ovulation period of the menstrual cycle to be impregnated. “Further some teens have sex not until the age of 17 but do not marry until the age of 20.” (“Facts on American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, 2010). It is astonishing that results show teenagers are waiting longer to have sex versus the 1995 surveys.

• “Ten percent of young women aged 18–24 who have had sex before age 20 report that their first sex was involuntary. The younger they were at first intercourse, the higher the proportion.[1]” (“Facts on American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, 2010).
• “Twelve percent of teen males and 10% of teen females have had heterosexual oral sex but not vaginal intercourse.[3]”(“Facts on American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, 2010).
• “The proportion of teens who had ever had sex declined from 49% to 46% among females and from 55% to 46% among males between 1995 and 2002.[1]” (“Facts on American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, 2010).
• “Each year, almost 750,000 women aged 15–19 become pregnant. Overall, 71.5 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19 occurred in 2006; the rate declined 41% from its peak in 1990 to a low of 69.5 in 2005.[9]” (“Facts on American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, 2010).
• “The majority of the decline in teen pregnancy rates is due to more consistent contraceptive use; the rest is due to higher proportions of teens choosing to delay sexual activity.[10]” (“Facts on American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, 2010).

Facts Show that a Third of all Teenage Pregnancies End in Termination or Abortion.

Although the rate of teens having sex at a younger age has somewhat decreased since its peak in 1990 until 2006, the rate of teenage pregnancy is still very high at the rate of 750,000 bastard children per year. What exactly does this mean? There are children born without fathers, single women raising children on the welfare system, no family support for young infants and toddlers which mean a breakdown of the nuclear family, the mothers are often not able to finish high school or are not able to pursue a college education. What does this mean for the future of our economy? The growth of the economy is stunted because young women cannot contribute to their full potential as they would have been if they would have finished their schooling, married then had children. The young children born out of wedlock have to do without certain necessities in cases or are born into poor families where they could have been born into middle class families if their parents would have used preventative family measures. Everyone suffers!

The entire community essentially suffers down to the tax payers because the taxpayers have to pay additional taxes for the unwed mothers that cannot afford to take care of their children without the aid of the government aid programs such as the Medicaid card, welfare and food stamps. The United States is noted for the highest teenage pregnancy rate at the ratio of 1:5 before a girl reaches the age of twenty. The state of New Mexico has the third highest teenage birth rate with teens giving birth to an average of twelve children per day in that state. Research shows that teenage mothers are less likely to finish their high school and college education and more likely to have associated health risks with their teenage pregnancy. Babies born to a teenager mother are more likely to experience “health problems at birth, do jail time sometime in life, become teenage parents, become physically or emotionally abused during their lifetime and/or do poorly sometime in school.” (“The New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition”, 2004).

Teenage Pregnancy is said to be a vicious cycle. Children learn ways that are not healthy such as inviting boys over to their home after school hence engaging in sexual activities that lead to teenage pregnancy. Many teenagers that became pregnant admitted to sneaking over their boyfriends whilst their parents or grandparents were away or at work and had casual sex. This is how the youngster ended up pregnant with no one to turn to. Some were able to finish high school by the hardest with the help of their family and support groups at school such as LYFE program. Most of the students interviewed were not so lucky. Most were forced to move out of their parents homes immediately or soon after turning eighteen years old and forced to fend for themselves. They had little to no formal education hence they were forced to work minimum wage jobs and put their child in day care bringing home hardly enough to pay the rent, feed themselves and the baby. Let’s keep in mind they were living in deplorable conditions or living with roommates they barely knew and trust and had to keep their newborn or toddler in these conditions. Living off of government subsidies became a way of life for them and they saw no immediate way out because of their lack of education and lack of emotional maturity. Having a baby should happen though Planned Parenthood or when a person is of majority age so that they are emotionally able to care for a child. Financial capability is a strong procurer for raising a child, also.

References

Sexual Activity (2010) Guttmacher Institute Retrieved May 12, 2010 from, http://womensissues.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=womensissues&cdn=newsissues&tm=8&f=20&tt=3&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_ATSRH.html%23n25

[1] Abma JC et al., Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, 2002, Vital and Health Statistics, 2004, Series 23, No. 24.

[3] Mosher WD et al., Sexual behavior and selected health measures: men and women 15–44 years of age, United States, 2002, Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, 2005, No. 362.

[9] Guttmacher Institute, U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity, accessed Jan. 26, 2010.

[10] Santelli JS et al., Explaining recent declines in adolescent pregnancy in the United States: the contribution of abstinence and improved contraceptive use, American Journal of Public Health, 2007, 97(1):150–156.

The New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition (2004) Retrieved May 12, 2010 from, http://www.health.state.nm.us/phd/fp/Forms/NMTPC%2010TeenPregFacts.pdf