The Perils of Intended Teenage Pregnancy, Research Paper Example

Although teenage birth rates have decreased since 1990, when more than 1 in 10 females aged 15 to 19 became pregnant each year and more than half gave birth (Guttmacher Institute), they have been creeping up again recently and are now much higher in the United States than in other Western nations. Valued in many traditional societies, teenage motherhood is generally discouraged in modern societies. Although motherhood sometimes mobilizes the girl’s support-network to help her focus on school and work, too often it interrupts her education, limits her job prospects, and leaves her living in poverty and raising her child by herself.

In current psychoanalytic theory, teenage girls get pregnant on purpose because they experience intense emotional conflicts during the genital stage of psychosexual development. Their growing sexual urges are anxiety-provoking and may reawaken the sexual conflicts of the phallic stage. Girls who deliberately engage in risky sex may not have strong enough egos (to analyze the consequences) or superegos (to arouse guilt) to keep their selfish ids in check.

Erikson might have wondered about unresolved conflicts from earlier stages of development, but primarily identified adolescent identity-versus-role confusion and all its attendant psychosocial conflicts. In Erikson’s theory, adolescents seek a sense of identity by experimenting with different roles and behaviors to see what suits them. Some adolescents try to find an easy resolution to their role confusion by prematurely latching onto an identity as a boyfriend or girlfriend, rather than doing the harder work of equal partnering to find out who they are (Erikson). If that doesn’t work, they smoke, drink, use illegal drugs, dye their hair orange, join radical groups, change religions, change majors every semester, and yes, become parents.

As I noted initially, psychoanalytic theorists tend to locate the causes of problems within the person. They try to identify and target for intervention teenagers who are experiencing especially difficult psychological conflicts. High-risk teenagers are then treated through psychoanalysis aimed at helping them resolve their conflicts. However, although the psychoanalytic approach might work with teenagers who are clinically disturbed, most teenager girls who choose to keep their child are not (Ferber, 2003).

Cognitive limitations, failure to anticipate consequences, and simple ignorance may all influence sexual decision-making. Jean Piaget believed teenagers who are not yet solidly into the formal operational stage may not be able to think through the long-range consequences of their sexual behavior. And misconceptions (pun intended!) about sex and contraception are rampant among teenagers (Aarons & Jenkins 5). In one study of 13 to 15-year-olds, more than 60% did not know that urinating after sex will not prevent pregnancy (Carrera et al 41).

According to Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory, the solution to these problems are improved sex-education programs – programs that correct misperceptions; provide teenagers with practical birth-control information and reinforcement for using it; and to generally help teens who, as noted above, have not yet reached the formal operational stage to think through the consequences of their sexual decisions. Carefully designed and comprehensive sex-education programs have indeed delayed initiation of sex, decreased number of sexual partners, and increased contraception use (Kirby and Laris 21). However, education alone is often not enough, so inevitably one needs to consider programs that focus on the causes of planned teenage motherhood in the environment rather than in an individual’s psychological and congnitive immaturity.

As B. F. Skinner (568) might have observed, teenage boys prefer unprotected sex because it is self-reinforcing, whereas using contraceptives is not. Albert Bandura notes that when a male learns that using a condom will decrease his sexual enjoyment, it will decrease the chances that he and his partner will use that kind of protection. Bandura also emphasizes observational learning, noting that teens who are exposed to a lot of sexually explicit material on television and in other media and are more sexually active than other teens (Brown et al 1018) are more prone to intended pregnancies (Chandra et al 1047).

Learning theorists believe that changing the environment will change the person. In support of Piaget’s theory noted above, it appears that one effective approach to teenage pregnancy-prevention is to make contraceptives readily available to teens through health clinics (Franklin and Corcoran 40). This approach also reflects a Skinnerian philosophy of encouraging desired behavior by making it more reinforcing and less punishing. Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory suggests that it might also help to provide teenagers with more role models of responsible sexual behavior and fewer examples of irresponsible sexual behavior to help them learn that the non-consequences of safe sex are likely to be more desirable than the consequences of early parenthood (Unger et al 205).

Finally, Gottlieb and Halpern (42) place behavior in its evolutionary context: sexual behavior is adaptive; after all, it has allowed humans to reproduce themselves for millenia. They also look for multiple interacting causes, analyzing the ongoing interactions  (genetic, neural, and behavioral) between developing teenagers and their changing physical, social, and cultural worlds. They expect bidirectional influences throughout the developmental process, a leading example being that poor parent-and peer-relations can increase the likelihood of risky sexual behavior, and vice versa.

Gottlieb might also ask whether teenagers’ cultural environment is one that considers teenage motherhood a normal step in development or a social problem. In some cultures, including some lower-income subcultures in the United States, early motherhood is viewed as adaptive and teenage pregnancy is common (Davies et al 85). He might also consider whether the school environment engages or alienates students and whether the girl’s family environment is supportive or stressful. Mainly, he would recognize that there is no single cause of planned teenage motherhood, there are many interacting causes.

Systems theorists would recommend comprehensive programs that attempt to change both the person and the environment – or, more specifically, to change the whole system of interacting influences (Gottlieb & Halpern 41). Quick fixes are unlikely to be effective for long. The solution may require more than changing sexual behavior; it may need to address teenagers’ broader socio-emotional needs (Allen et al. 185). The solution may also require changing the social context – for example, changing how adolescents and their parents, peers, and partners interact; and enabling teenage girls in all segments of society to perceive the many opportunities they will have if they postpone motherhood and complete their education.

In all likelihood, multiple approaches will be required to address planned teenage motherhood – and to achieve the larger goal of understanding human sexual development.

Works Cited

Aaron, S.J. and R. R. Jenkins. Sex, Pregnancy, and Contraception-related Motivators/Barriers among Latino and African-American Youth in Washington, D.C. Journal of Sex Education 1 (2002): 5-30.

Allen, J., V. Seitz, and N. Apfel. The sexually mature teen as a whole person. Child development and social policy: Knowledge for action (pp. 185-199). Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association, 2007. Print. Doi: 10.1037/11486-011.

Bandura, A. Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986. Print.

Brown, J. D., K. L. L’Engle, C. J. Pardun, G. Guo, K, Kenneavy, and C. Jackson. Sexy media matter. Pediatrics 117.4 (2006): 1018-102.

Carrera, M., J. W. Kaye, S. Philliber, and West, E. Knowledge about Reproduction, Contraception, and Sexually Transmitted Infection Among Young Adolescents in American Cities. Social Policy 30:3(2000): 41.

Chandra, A., S. C. Martino, R. L. Collins, M. N. Elliott, S. H. Berry, S. H., D. E. Kanouse, and A. Miu. Does watching sex on television predict teen pregnancy? Pediatrics 122.5. (2008): 1047-1054.

Davies, S. L., R. J. DiClemente, G. M. Wingwood, S. D. et al. Relationship char­acteristics and sexual practices of African American adolescent girls who desire pregnancy. Health Education & Behavior 31(2004): 85S-96S.

Erikson, E.H. Identity: Youth and Crisis. NewYork: Norton, 1968. Print.

Gottlieb, G., Halpern CT. Individual development as a system of co-actions: Implications for research and policy. In: Fogel A, King BJ, Shanker SG, editors. Human development in the 21st century. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 41-47. Print.

Kirby, D., and B. Laris. Effective curriculum-based sex and STD/HIV education programs for adolescents. Child Development Perspectives, 3.1(2009): 21-29.

Skinner, B. F. What is wrong with daily life in the Western World? American Psychologist 41(1986): 568-574.

Unger, J., G. Molina, and L. Teran. Perceived consequences of teenage childbearing among adolescent girls in an urban sample. The Journal of Adolescent Health 26.3 (2000): 205–212.