Teen Pregnancy

Bri Valentini
ENG 102
ROUGH DRAFT

Writing Assignment #3
Teen Pregnancy

Among the industrialized nations, the United States has by far the highest rate of teen pregnancy. (Finer) Teen pregnancy has been a growing issue for years, but recently has become a more popular trend. The issue effects not only the pregnant teen, but both teens parents, our government/society, and most importantly the child itself. There are many negative effects regarding this issue, but people nowadays seem to brush it off because of how society views teen pregnancy as a whole.
A major factor of teen pregnancies includes the adolescence state of mind. The human brain does not reach full maturity until at least the mid-20s. Meaning that many of these teens’ brains have not fully developed until about age 25 on average. (Finer) Some of these parts of the brain affected include the frontal lobe, or decision-making part of the brain. Because of this still developing region of the brain, teens decision-making is altered especially when involving drugs or alcohol. Many teens are notorious for not thinking of the consequences of their actions and just doing what they want in the moment without considering what the effects will be later.
Regarding this, one of the major consequences that teenagers do not consider when deciding to have unprotected sex include the health risks not only to the teen, but to the baby as well, once pregnant. On the average, teen pregnancies are more expected to result in low-birth-weight babies and premature births. This is because pregnant teenagers often do not obtain the timely prenatal care required. Because the body of a teen is still growing, there is much higher risk for birth defects. Premature birth and low birth weight create a wealth of their own problems, including brain damage, physical disabilities and more. The potentially lengthy hospital stay and increased risk of health problems for these babies leads to more stress on the teen mother.
A major issue with teen pregnancies includes the school dropout rate. Pregnant teen moms are less likely to complete high school and attend college than teenagers who abstain from sexual activity. Nearly one-third of teen girls who have dropped out of high school cite early pregnancy or parenthood as a key reason. (Bridgeland) Both teen parents who drop out of high school and children of teen parents suffer serious educational challenges. Too-early pregnancy and parenthood not only makes it more difficult to complete education, career, and other life goals for teen parents, but it also affects the future prospects of their children. The impact of students leaving high school also has devastating economic consequences. Over the course of a lifetime, a college graduate will earn, on average, $1 million more than a high school dropout. (Alliance for Excellent Education) Dropping out is literally a million-dollar mistake.
Relatively, the financial burden of raising a child is another major issue associated with teen pregnancy. This burden affects not only the pregnant teen and their family but society as well. Teens don’t seem to realize the hardships of being a parent so young. Being parents at this age will pretty much ensure that teens will need assistance from their parents in order to support themselves and the babies. This is affecting these parents not only financially, but emotionally as well. The financial burden is substantial but most times the grandparents of the child end up being the ones who give it the more care than the actual parent and sometimes even end up keeping the baby in the end. Many teenage parents live below the poverty level and rely on welfare. With education cut short, teenage parents are left with very little employment opportunities and face a lot of hardship in building a secured future for themselves and their child. Similarly, teen pregnancy affects our own society and government. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (NCPTP) claims that teenage childbearing costs society about $6.9 billion annually; this estimate includes welfare and food stamp benefits, medical care expenses, lost tax revenue, incarceration expenses, and foster care. (Hoffman)
Every year, approximately 750,000 women aged 15 to 19 become pregnant. Furthermore, childbirths form teen mothers represent 11% of all births in the United States. (Perper) Yet in recent years, the amount of sexual content beig shown on television and other sources of media has increased. Consequently, there is little representation on practices of safe sex in TV portrayals. Recent studies claim that teenage pregnancies are linked with television programs with sexual content. (Hoffman) Teenagers often obtain a significant amount of information regarding sex through TV and such programs do not generally emphasize the responsibilities and risks of sex. These studies established that television programs with sexual content generate teenagers’ perception that there is little risk of sex with no contraception. (Perper) Shows like Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant severely glamorize teen pregnancy, have altered the perception of these teenagers, and in a sense have endorsed sexual behavior.
Suppose we came up with a plan of a program that showed the true, non-glamorized version of a teen pregnancy. A 16 year old girl currently in high school; receives above average grades, is involved in many clubs and programs in school, and is planning on pursuing a job in the medical field. Everything seems to be in place until one day that changed her entire life forever, the day she realized she was pregnant. Not even in her third year of high school yet, she finishes out her sophomore year and then decides to dropout of school altogether. She lives with her parents and now has to try to figure out how she is going to be able to afford this child. She finds a local job waitressing and now has to take on a second job to be able to help out her parents with this child. She quickly realizes that she will not be able to return to school anytime soon, which will seriously affect her plans on becoming a nurse in the future. This one slip up has created a domino effect that cannot be reversed and has affected not only herself, but everyone around her as well. This could have easily been avoided if her and her partner were more informed of these consequences when deciding to have sex without the use of contraceptives. Despite the numerous elements that can influence teen pregnancy, for many teenagers, the lack of safe sex education from schools, parents, or otherwise is one of the root causes of teenage pregnancy. As educators strive to improve graduation rates and help students succeed academically, it is important that school leaders, local health departments, and other agencies work together and leverage their expertise and resources in a way that can address the issue of teen pregnancy. There are a number of innovative strategies and activities going on around the country that are great examples of how communities can work together toward this issue. Some school districts have used results from surveys of parents’ to overcome resistance to implementing programs to prevent teen pregnancy. Other districts have organized information sessions to educate parents, teachers, and school leaders about the connection between teen pregnancy and school completion as a way to enlist more support for teen pregnancy prevention programs in schools and improve knowledge about sex education. In some states, school districts have partnered with community-based organizations or local health agencies to hold in-person or online professional development courses for teachers to improve the delivery of pregnancy prevention programs. Solutions like these, if utilized, can improve the community knowledge of the negative effects of teen pregnancy and furthermore help improve the issue for our future generations.

WORKS CITED 1. Alliance for Excellent Education. (2008). The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. 2. Bridgeland, John M., DiIulio, John J., and Morison, Karen Burke. (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. Civic Enterprises for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Retrieved December 2011, from http://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/Documents/TheSilentEpidemic3-06FINAL.pdf. 3. Finer, Lawrence B. & Stanley K. Henshaw. (2006). “Disparities in Rates of Unintended Pregnancy In the United States, 1994 and 2001.” Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 38(2), 90–6. 4. Hoffman, Saul D., and Rebecca A. Maynard, eds. (2008). Kids Having Kids: Economic Costs & Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy, 2nd edition. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press 5. Perper, K., Peterson, K., and Manlove, J. (2010). Diploma Attachment Among Teen Mothers, 2010. Child Trends, Fact Sheet: Washington, DC. Retrieved December 2011, from http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2010_01_22_FS_DiplomaAttainment.pdf.