Methods & Teenage pregnancy

Introduction
Teenage pregnancies have become a topic of discussion within most households of today’s society. Recent television shows such as Teen Mom and The Secret Life of an American Teenager has introduced a topic in a major way. Within the past twenty years, the amount of teenage pregnancy has increased by 10 percent (Brown). According to the Medical dictionary teen pregnancy is defined as “Pregnancy by a female, age 13 to 19, which is understood to occur in a girl who hasn’t completed her core education—secondary school—has few or no marketable skills, is financially dependent upon her parents and/or continues to live at home and is mentally immature (Segen’s Medical Dictionary). Teenage pregnancy can be very harmful to not only the mother but also to the infant. With the child being born to a teenage mother it can cause health, social, and emotional problems.
Studies have shown the connection between uneducated teenage mothers and the health and leaving conditions of the family. The lack of education affects the mother mental, emotionally, and finically. Teenage births are associated with lower annual income for the mother. Eighty percent of teen mothers must rely on welfare at some point (Swierzewski). As many as 60 percent of teen mothers are living below the poverty level (Miranne).

Literature Review
Most teenage mothers are between the ages of 14 and 18. Although some of these pregnancies occur due to rape, a majority is a cause of consensual sex. The steadily rise in teenage mothers is bad because it has harmful effects for the pregnant teen, the father of the baby, the families of the teen and even the country as a whole. Also most kids from teenage mothers create a re-occurring cycle of teenage pregnancy and are often high school dropouts. If there were groups who performed a better job of informing teenagers of the risks of having sex, this rise would surely stop decreasing.
Recently there have been many teenage pregnancies and although the idea of being a teenage parent is difficult, people do not realize that this also has a great effect on the development of a child both psychologically and mentally. It has been shown that teenagers are not fit to be parents. Although this idea is cliché and may have exceptions, most teenage mothers have children who come out with disabilities. A teenager who is not even able to take care of him or her cannot meet the basic needs of a mother during her stages of pregnancy. A young female is not fully aware of her body and the affects it has on the child she is baring. The idea of having a child at an early age causes so much stress that the difficulties a mother is facing can somehow affect the development of the child. For example, when most teenagers are stressed, that they tend to alter their sleep and eating habits. This can greatly distress the growth of the unborn baby. Over the past decade researchers have found that the rate of children born with a disability has been on a rise. According to the March of Dimes there are roughly 150,000 babies born a year that have a birth defect (March of Dimes). According to Kids Health, the birth defects can be from structural or metabolic defects, congenital infections, genetics and much more (Kids Health). All these birth defects can lead to a child having mental retardation. Medline Plus describes mental retardation as a condition diagnosed before the age of eighteen where the child lacks general knowledge or the skills necessary for daily living (Medline Plus). Many may argue that the exact causes of mental retardation cannot be determined, but based on prior knowledge and basic research one can conclude that this disease stems as an effect of teenage pregnancies, race, and stress. This is due to the environment in which a mother resides in during her pregnancy. Race also plays a severe role in the area of birth defects and mental retardation in children. Although many researchers do not talk about the effects that race can play in this topic, some have come to the conclusion that certain races have a growing number of mentally retarded children. Just as African Americans have a growing number of people who are affected daily with the HIV and other STDs, mental retardation is more popular in other races. A high percentage of mentally challenged children have been said to be a result of Caucasians and mixing of other races. This may be a process that is being further studied, but the genetics in races sometimes differ causing the development of children to alter during the process. The environment and circumstances that a mother has to face during her stages of pregnancy may have a great influence in the outcome of a child’s psychological and mental life. Psychological issues are one of the most noted symptoms of a child with mental retardation. It appears that a mother who resides in a relaxed, financially stable, and supportive surrounding is more likely to have fewer problems during her pregnancy, than one that is not fortunate enough to have these luxuries. Having to worry about the well being of your child before they are born may cause a great deal of destruction and can affect your mental health in the long run. Most women are told to live in a relaxed and calm environment because the health of the mother transfers through the child as they grow throughout the nine months of pregnancy.
Only 40 percent of teenagers who have children before age 18 go on to graduate from high school (Percentage of Mothers). Most children created by teenage dropouts often repeat the cycle and either drop out between middle and high school, often supporting themselves with low-end jobs. Their family due to embarrassment, or the parent’s inability to handle the disappointment kicks out many teens that discover they are pregnant. Some teens run away before even revealing their secret to their families. Many of these run a ways, live alone in the streets at the risk of being sent home, back to foster care or jail (because in some states running away is illegal). In order to survive, some of these kids are forced to sell their bodies or drugs.
Teenage pregnancies not only affect the mother and the child it also affects the whole family. After the pregnancy the mother may be left feeling the hardship and struggle that can lead to many crises. One of the main challenges that a teen mom deals with is medical crisis. On the hit MTV reality show “Teen Moms 2”, the now 19-year-old star Leah Messer is shown taking care of her twin children one who has a medical condition that is still hard to determine. On the show they show the struggle she is facing with medical bills, plentiful amount of doctor appointments, and along with medical bills. They show how Messer struggles day to day as a teen mom but what many people do not know is that she is being paid and is still facing “REAL” teen mom hardships that are unbearable.
As if the medical issues aren’t enough the teenage mom also deals with depression and anxiety. In a study that was taking the results showed “15% of teenage mothers dealt with anxiety while 10 percent of teenage mothers dealt with depression (PSI).” And in today’s society it is off the radar. Anxiety and depression is not a simple issue that can be over looked. It is a serious medical condition that can lead to the mother running away or even worst killing themselves because there is no one to talk to.
When viewing society as a whole teen pregnancy has been on a decline, but many things such as abortions and sexually transmitted diseases are much higher than western industrialized nations (Center Disease Control). So what can we do as a society? I know from growing up in a small city there are no groups that comes to the high school or middle schools to talk about teenage pregnancies, but rather come and promote abstinence. In the classes they make us sign a pledge saying “We will abstain from sex until marriage.” They also discuss what “can” happen if you have sexual intercourse, but never speak on the actions one should take if that happens. I remember throughout middle school we had to take sexual education, but never learned about “SEX.” The main goal of the curriculum was to in store in the child’s head “abstaining from sex is the way to go”. We would try to ask questions and find out more but they would say I couldn’t tell you about that. It seemed like the only thing they could talk about was sexual transmitted disease.
On Kids Health they have an article entitled “When your teen is having a baby” that helps give guidance to parents on how to approach the situation. In most cases the parents leave the teen on their own, but this is not the way to go. The most important factor of teenage pregnancy is the parents of the children if they turn their backs on the child then who would they have to turn to in their time of need? Needless to say that there neglecting not only their own child, but also their grandchild. For this each school should have counseling for the student to come and talk about their struggle that they face during this hard time. There should be outside counseling for free that allows the teen parents and the parents of the teens to talk get a better understand from each other side.
In America there are a lot of assistant programs that gives the teenage mothers help such as Medicaid or WIC but there are not a lot of programs that help to “prevent” the raise of this epidemic. On May 7, 2009 Washington DC released the article “President Obama Calls for a New Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiate” the opening was as followed:
President Obama’s budget for FY 2010 that was released today proposes a total of $178 million for a new teen pregnancy prevention initiative. This includes competitive grants for evidence-based programs, research and evaluation, and authorization for $50 million in new mandatory teen pregnancy prevention grants to states, tribes, and territories. (National Campaign to Prevent)
If I was America, I would be scared for our country. The increase of teenage pregnancy is creating many lives that cannot be taken care of, increasing the rate of homelessness, as well as our decrease in our educational system. Teenage pregnancy not only affects the teens, it also affects the child produced, and our country can often suffer. This may seem heartless but if anything, it is care for the United States as well as saving many lives from one moment of rapture.
Teenage pregnancy can be supported by the Social interaction theory, which states that a person is influenced by their environment. For instance if a teenage mother grows up in an environment where she constantly sees sex, the teen is more likely to be involved with the same contents. Many believe that “social interaction plays a fundamental role of cognitive development (Learning Theories).” This can be supported by Vygotsky Social development Theory where he believe that “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).” (Vygotsky, 1978)
In today’s society it is oblivious to think that the average teen is not involved in sexual activities when it is being promoted on all types of broadcast networks such as television, radios, and the Internet. So my question is why the school shouldn’t be allowed to explain the causes and repercussions of teenage pregnancy? When the mother is allowing the child to watch rated R movies and on MTV one of their top rated television shows is “Teen Moms.” Informing the teen about the effects of teenage pregnancy is not “promoting” teenage pregnancy but rather giving them the proper knowledge, so if the day comes they will have been properly prepared. To most adults, the average age that sexual intercourse begins is between the ages of 11 and 17. In fact, sadly it is rare to find a virgin in high school. Most of my friends already had 3 or more sexual partners by the time we were in our sophomore year of high school. A major reason for the recent increase in teen pregnancy is the lack of quality in sex education programs. Many of these programs spend entirely too much time focusing on abstinence instead of facing reality that kids are sexually active. If these programs, would step up they could help prevent a lot of teenage pregnancies and maybe even lower the STDs rate. Teenagers are not stupid, and most are very deceptive risk-takers. These kids need the hard-core truth. Placing them on false pedestals has only given them ideas that they are above rules and are invincible to some things, such as pregnancy, STDs and aids. If sex education programs, sponsored teenagers who were forced to change the way they lived their life whether due to pregnancy, dropping out of school, or obtaining STDs, I am almost certain these problem areas would decrease.

This topic is very interesting to me because my mother had me as a teenager. I wanted to see what kind of things that my mother went through. I was interested to see if my mother needed assistance to taking care of me. This is important because with my mother being a teenage parent I was born premature. Most patterns that I see in the literature show that most teens that become pregnant will drop out of school. Teenagers that are pregnant will affect the infant and may cause the baby to have health problems.
Survey Research
What are surveys? According to the Author Kendra Cherry Surveys are a data collection tool used to gather information about individuals (Cherry). The strength of using surveys is that the data collection is much easier to gather. Surveys also use easy to read data sources that can be composed and examined. The main focus when using surveys are factual information about individuals. In a survey you can ask yes or no questions and you can also ask open ended or multiple-choice questions. Surveys can be conducted over the phone, mail, and in person. A survey is so useful because it does not cost that much to make the survey or mail it out. With mailing surveys it is most effective when trying to get the attention of a certain group. Most surveys focus on opinions but some often focus on attitude. Strength of using surveys is that it is orderly and can produce a lot of information in a short period of time. With surveys they are flexible and you can create your own questions. Surveys are mainly useful in describing the characteristics of a huge inhabitant.
Telephone surveys are used most often. Many people wonder why someone always call there house phone and ask will they complete a survey for him or her. 96% of Americans have a house phone. SO to conduct a survey will be easy. It ahs became very popular because people don’t even have to call they now have computer assisting interviewing (Liberty). When doing surveys over the phone you can get a complete response and hear how the respondent feels about the survey. You have to make sure that you one conduct the survey for about fifteen minutes. You have to limit some of the open-ended question. Sometimes a respondent will want their opinion to be heard but confidential. The respondent will probably not want their name associated.

Questions that I would ask in a survey:
Do you think teenagers should be having children?
Agree, undecided, disagree
Do you believe teens that get pregnant may have a premature baby?
True or false.
Do you think teenager’s lives will be ruined if they were to have a child at an early age? Yes, No, Undecided.
What your opinion about a teenager have a child?
How would you feel if your teen had a child?
Ok with it or Hurt?
Do you think that the teenager will dropout of school if she have a child?
Agree, undecided, disagree
What traits will the teenager develop?
Good or bad?
Does this play a roll into how the child grows up and interact with people
Yes or no
Do you think the teenage male is ready to begin the role of a father?
Yes or no?
If you were a teenager right now having a child how would you feel bad?
Yes or no
When conducting this survey I would ask many different people. I would ask my questions to people from ages 13-19 to begin with. I will ask them first because this is whom the topic mainly deals with. Along with these ages I will ask every race. After I ask the teens I will gradually work my way up on age and see their opinions about my questions. I would conduct this survey on Hampton Univertys campus and cafeteria. This is a great area to do the surveys because this is where you will see most of the students on campus. This is where a lot of professors pass through too.
My next topic I will talk about is interviews. What are interviews? An interview is a conversation in which the interviewer questions the interviewee in order to gain information. Interviews are used for everything in today’s society. Sports, business, and even science are great examples. Interviews are often used in communities when trying to get information or people’s opinion about in activity. When you are looking to get a great deal of information about a certain topic then it is good to use interviews When using a interview one great thing is that you can make sure every question gets answered and your can order the questions however you want to. When you are looking to get a great deal of information about a certain topic then it is good to use interviews When using a interview one great thing is that you can make sure every question gets answered and your can order the questions however you want to. The interviewee has to come right off the top of the head with their response. In some cases there have been interviewees that have blurted out things that they wouldn’t say on paper or questionnaires. Dealing with interviews you can directly interview people that deals with your topic. For example my topic is dealing with teenage pregnancy so I will interview a lot of teens male and female to get there thought and opinions about the topic. There is know problem interviewing a complete stranger and hear them voice there about bout a topic. Anybody can learn how to interview different people it is not hard to do at all because you just read question off a paper and write down their responses. You have to make sure you prepare a list of questions for the interview and memorize them. Next you have to make sure you dress appropriate for the interview. You must always be on time.
There are different types of interviews but two of the most popular are face-to-face interviews and over the phone. When using face-to-face interviews you have more flexibility. You can repeat questions and you can lean towards the kind of answers that you want to hear. You can choose the location of the interview and you can watch the interviewee’s behavior as each question is asked. When dealing with interviews you may never know they type of responses that you may get so you can record some of the crazy answers that you may receive. You can make sure that the interview is complete and make sure all answers have been answered .You can also us a more complex questionnaire and see exactly who is answering the questions.
Telephone interviews are a good way to get information too. You use phone interviews when the people you want to interview lives far away. Most people do not like to do interviews over the phone so when interviewing try to keep it under ten minutes long. When interviewing over the phone you have to be more motivation than face to face because most people don’t like to talk on the phone. Make sure you speak loud and clear to the interviewee and identify yourself. Do not call early in the morning or late at night. You must write down information as you hear it. When finish you must always thank the interviewee.
The strength of using interviews is that you can discover how individuals think and feel about a topic and why they hold certain opinions. Interviews allow more detailed questions to be asked and they usually achieve a high response rate. When doing interviews you can interview people face to face and some interviewees may be less self-conscious in a one-to-one situation. The type of data you receive from interviews is mostly opinionated data. You conduct an interview with an individual and see how the individual directly feels about a topic.
For my Interview I would ask these questions:
What do you think about teenagers should be having children?
Do you believe teens that get pregnant may have a premature baby?
Do you think teenager’s lives will be ruined if they were to have a child at an early age?
What do you tell teenager who has already have a child?
How would you feel if your teen had a child?
How would you feel if your teen had a child?
Do you think that the teenager will dropout of school if she have a child?
Strongly Agree, agree, undecided, disagree, strongly disagree and explain why
Do you think the teenage male is ready to begin the role of a father?
Yes or no Explain
If you were a teenager right now having a child how would you feel?
Explain
As I stated in my survey I will do the same thing for my interview. I would ask my questions to people from ages 13-19 to begin with. I will ask them first because this is whom the topic mainly deals with. Along with these ages I will ask every race. After I ask the teens I will gradually work my way up on age and see their opinions about my questions. I would conduct this survey on Hampton Univertys campus and cafeteria. This is a great area to do the surveys because this is where you will see most of the students on campus. This is where a lot of professors pass through too.
My final method that I will be using is Focus Groups. Focus groups are very similar to an interview. However: Focus groups are defined as interviews with a small sampled group of a larger population. Focus groups are used mostly in business trying to promote something new. The businesses ask focus groups about the topics that they are introducing and get their opinion about it. A trained facilitator leads most focus groups. Focus groups may be less structure but the information that you receive from the interview will be very good. What’s different about focus groups is that when you ask the question anyone can answer and the group can discuss it before they answer the question. It may cause a debate between the groups that may release more information. For a focus group you must dress in business attire. When getting ready to do a focus group you must first determine how many people you will need. Next you will have to fine people that similar to the topic that you are doing. You have to get all of their names and contact information. Then come up with a list of questions and order the question so that they are comfortable of the members. You must also find a location to meet with a focus group and conduct the information for the topic. Make sure that the location you choose encourages the topic. You must also make sure that the place is easy to access.
The strength about using focus groups is they allow observations of group interaction in a controlled setting. Focus groups also are good for less structured themes/topics and allow the researcher to produce concentrated data on a precise topic. Finally they are quick and easy to conduct and can provide rich and in-depth data. Most of the data conducted from the focus group is opinionated. You will get direct thought from the group about the topic. You will get heavily detailed information and open ended answers.
For my Interview I would ask these questions:
What do you think about teenagers should be having children?
Do you believe teens that get pregnant may have a premature baby?
Do you think teenager’s lives will be ruined if they were to have a child at an early age?
What do you tell teenagers who has already have a child?
How would you feel if your teen had a child?
Do you think that the teenager will dropout of school if she have a child?
Agree, undecided, disagree and explain why
What traits will the teenager develop?
How does this play a roll into how the child grows up and interact with people
Do you think the teenage male is ready to begin the role of a father?
Yes or no Explain
If you were a teenager right now having a child how would you feel?
Explain
For my focus group I would ask my questions to people from ages 13-19 to begin with. Would get about 4-5 every time I would ask questions. I will ask them first because this is whom the topic mainly deals with. Along with these ages I will ask every race. Sometime I might conduct research with only a group of white people. After that I may do a focus group with only African Americans or Hispanics. After I ask the teens I will gradually work my way up on age and see their opinions about my questions. I will also ask a random group of professors to here there take on the topic. I would conduct this survey on Hampton Univertys campus and cafeteria. I may also go to the food places like subway and the Chinese place. This is a great area to do the surveys because this is where you will see most of the students on campus. This is where a lot of professors pass through too.

Works Cited
"Background on Teenage Pregnancy." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"Navigate." Survey Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"Teen Pregnancy, Consequences of Teenage Pregnancy." - Teen Pregnancy. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"Teen Pregnancy Stats." Teen Pregnancy Stats. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"Section 12. Conducting Interviews." Main Section. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. Liberty, Debbie. "Market Research with Telephone Surveys." Telephone Surveys. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
"Teen PregnancyExit This Survey ." Teen Pregnancy Survey. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"What Is a Survey?" About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"Conducting Focus Group:." Conducting Focus Group:. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

Cited: "Background on Teenage Pregnancy." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. "Navigate." Survey Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. "Teen Pregnancy, Consequences of Teenage Pregnancy." - Teen Pregnancy. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. "Teen Pregnancy Stats." Teen Pregnancy Stats. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. "Section 12. Conducting Interviews." Main Section. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.  Liberty, Debbie. "Market Research with Telephone Surveys." Telephone Surveys. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. "Teen PregnancyExit This Survey  ." Teen Pregnancy Survey. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. "What Is a Survey?" About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. "Conducting Focus Group:." Conducting Focus Group:. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.