Preview

Causes of Teenage Pregnancy

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
509 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Causes of Teenage Pregnancy
The Causes of Teenage pregnancy from: Obviously, the reason at the base of any pregnancy is sexual intercourse. But many researchers would like to know why the phenomenon of teenage pregnancy is so widespread. The easiest answer is that teens want to become pregnant; while this is not untrue in all cases, at least 80% of teen pregnancies are unintentional.

Research has shown that one of the causes of teenage pregnancy is the lack of a sense of personal responsibility for their actions, lack of maturity, and most importantly a lack of knowledge regarding sexual intercourse and contraception. Related to this, teenage pregnancy is often closely associated with poverty, limited education and employment opportunities.

53% of teens admit not understanding sex or birth control and this is a reflection of one of the most fundamental causes of teenage pregnancy, ignorance. Indeed, teens in America, especially girls, are bombarded with mixed messages concerning sex. Sex is seen as immediate gratification with no consequences, but preparing for sex makes a girl promiscuous. Sex is seen all over the television and in movies, but equal treatment for birth control methods is completely absent. Open discussions about sex are very rare.

If an adolescent female experiences low expectations for her future or lack of control over her life, she is more likely to become pregnant. Depression in general is another one of the causes of teenage pregnancy, leading girls to engage in risky sexual activity. Abuse of alcohol or drugs also leads to poor choices about sex and contraception, often ending up in pregnancy. Growing up in a family without an adequate amount of love or a father figure could also be one of the causes of teenage pregnancy; an adolescent girl will fall prey to the attentions of an older man in the hopes of receiving affection. Most girls are pressured by their boyfriends into having sex because they believe this will make their boyfriends love them more.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Generally, girls who drop out of school or aren’t doing very well come from a family that isn’t very strict or have much care which could lead to another reason as to why the teen is careless about getting pregnant. The way someone is brought up or their background influences from home have major impacts on children/teenagers, so if a teenager was raised by a teen mother themselves, it is more likely for them to also become a teen mother. This is because she might see becoming pregnant as the “normal” thing to do in her family. Another social determinant as to why a teenager could fall pregnant is because she may feel as becoming a parent is her best option.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Recent statistics concerning the teen birthrates are alarming. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the western world with approximately one million adolescents becoming pregnant every year (National Women's Health Information Center). Almost one-sixth of all births in the United States are to teenage women. Although pregnancy may occur in any teenager, some teens are at higher risk for unplanned pregnancy than others. There are many risk factors to adolescent pregnancy, these include factors in the community and the family such as parents’ lack of education, family marital disruption, lack of parental support, violent crime, unemployment, poor child rearing practice, poverty, and inappropriate sexual pressure or abuse. According to a 2004 study, eliminating exposure to abuse, violence, and family strife could prevent one-third of teenage pregnancies. As well as community and the family factors there are individual factors that increase the risk of adolescent pregnancy, a few of these individual factors are lack of religious affiliation, drug and alcohol use, engaging in…

    • 1253 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rant

    • 1554 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Secondly, peer group pressure is another root of early pregnancy. Most teenagers opt to have sexual intercourse because they need to achieve the acceptance given by the CIRCLE of…

    • 1554 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Birth Control Pill

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Most of the time that teens become pregnant, it is unplanned. A large majority of teens can’t provide for themselves let alone a baby if they were to become pregnant.…

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    People should understand that mistakes happen. But one little mistake can lead to a big responsibility in the outcome. When two teenagers decide to make the adult decision by having sex, the mother could face the possibility of becoming pregnant. Teens should try their best to avoid teen pregnancy because it can lead to the children of teen moms to have lower birth weights and school performance, the teen mother and father could have some issues, and the teen mom usually is less likely to complete high school.…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Effects of Teen Pregnancy

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages

    While many teens that engage in pre-marital sex never become pregnant, some are not as lucky. Teen pregnancy have become all too common in this day and age. Some teens think it will not happen to them and do not use necessary precautions to protect against it. There are several causes for teen pregnancy and the effects can be life changing.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secondary Drowning Essay

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Most of the parents think that the risk of drowning is over once their child is done swimming. However, this risk still exists after your child gets out of the water. This is a rare condition, called secondary drowning, that can occur hours after having a swim which, if not treated immediately, can result in death. Cassandra Jackson, like most of the parents, was not aware of this condition and, she was faced with this misfortune when she found her son in a terrifying state.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many causes to teen pregnancy that most are not aware of. The lack of good…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sexual Abstinence

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sex before marriage has been one of the major causes of teen pregnancy. In fact, 10% of all 15 to 19 year-old females become pregnant each year. Some teenagers just act carelessly when they have sex and don't think of the consequences that can happen. Others just use different forms of contraceptives and birth control incorrectly. There are countless numbers of reasons why teenagers who commit premarital sex end up having an unplanned pregnancy. A handful of unplanned pregnancies occur because of the lack of knowledge. Some teenagers just don't have enough sense on how to use birth control. Others believe they are in love and actually plan to have a baby, but don't have knowledge of the finances involved. Of the 3.3 million unplanned pregnancies in the U.S. each year, over 1 million of these occur to girls between the ages of 15 and 19. Teen pregnancy is a major problem faced by today's society because of premarital sex.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    First, teens are not mentaly or emotinaly stable to have a child when deep down they are still children. Many teens get pregnant because they make attempts to find emotional fulfillment and the desire to achieve womanhood. Teens believe its easy to take care of a child. They also get tricked by there boyfriends. They will make the mistake more than one time. There boyfriends would say "if you love me you will do it". In fact if he really loved you he wouldnt force you to do something you dont want to do, and are not ready for.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    There are also other contributors of teen pregnancy. Teenagers today are having sex at a young age thinking that they are responsible and able to take care of a baby. Teen pregnancy can also result…

    • 1429 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Eight hundred and twenty thousand teen girls become pregnant each year (The National.) Some may be planned, but for the most part, those 820,000 are unwanted, unplanned pregnancies. Teens that become pregnant are pregnant because they either didn 't know about the preventative measures or they just chose not to use them. Either way, it is now a problem for them and something that is going to have to be dealt with. If the teens didn 't know, it is not just their problem; it is society 's problem as well for not properly teaching. It should be part of a parent 's job, but some believe that only roughly 5% of all children are given any sex education in the home (Bolmeier 14.) "The responsibility for sex education should be shared by the parents, social services in the community and particularly, the schools. Unfortunately, however, sex information to youth is provided by peers. . ." (Bolmeier 12-13.) And that information from peers is usually from music, movies, and television,…

    • 1964 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pregnancy and Birth Control

    • 2374 Words
    • 10 Pages

    There are lots of factors that lead to teenage pregnancy. The first factor arises from a lack of parental guidance. Most parents evade their children when it comes time to talk about sex. In some cases, they provide false information regarding sex and discourage their children to participate in any informative discussion about sex. However, in other cases, teenagers are not well educated about sex before they get pregnant. This then leads to lack of communication between parents and their children. A second cause of teenage pregnancy is due to the adolescent’s sex behavior. In this case, peer pressure is a major factor that encourages teenagers to engage in sexual activities. Early dating is also another behavior that can cause unwanted pregnancy in teenagers. “According to research, 29% of teens were pressurized to have sex, 33% of teens were sexually active and that they felt things moving fast sexually (What are the Causes of teenage Pregnancy? 2009).” A third cause of teenage pregnancy is not having enough knowledge about safe sex. Most adolescents are unaware about safe sex. They have little or no information about how to prevent pregnancy. The main reason behind that is that they are too embarrassed or shy to seek information about it. “Research found…

    • 2374 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unwanted pregnancy is the result of careless decision and unprotected sex. Due to immaturity, teenage mother tried to escape from the consequences for them to commit abortion or to dump the baby somewhere upon giving birth.…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Poverty

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages

    So, with this in mind I decided to do a survey on teenage pregnancy and find out the reason for this issue. By completing the questionnaire, which you will see later on in my SBA, you will find out why most of these teenagers are pregnant.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays