Issues Of Teen Pregnancy

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Introduction

Turning into a parent can be a difficult circumstance in any event, for the most arranged. Be that as it may, for a youngster, it tends to be the greatest test of youthful pre-adult life. Teen pregnancy doesn’t just influence the youngsters and the infant, it additionally influences everybody around them, including their family and the encompassing society. According to the article, “U.S. Birth Fell To A 32-Year Low In 2018; CDC Says Birthrate Is In Record Slump” this problematic epidemic has reached a low birth rate starting since 1986. It’s the lowest number of births in 32 years, according to a new federal report. The numbers also decreased the U.S. fertility rate to a record low. Television has played a role in these birth rates dropping drastically. (Chappell) The article, “Watching MTV’s ’16 and Pregnant’ leads to lower teen birth rates, study finds” by Rolfes additionally advocates that the TV shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have some connection due to the birth rates dropping because studies show that there was a 5.7 percent decrease due to teens watching and talking about these shows in the 18 months following their premiere. Teen pregnancy can affect one in various ways: physically, emotionally, as well as financially. The stress and pressure that builds up from finding out you’re pregnant can be devastating. Starting with the correct words to tell your partner or telling your parents. Also, finding ways to pay for the cost of having a baby and the ultimate pressure of figuring out how to raise your baby while trying to balance your current life. A pregnant teen will have to come to terms with the fact that their lives will never be the same. Teen pregnancy birth rates are dropping day by day due to television shows emphasizing the cons of being teen parents, the effects/consequences it comes with, and the better usage of contraceptives.

Birth Rates Dropping due to Television

Adolescent pregnancy is an issue in the United States, yet the rates are not at an untouched high. The pregnancy birth rates of teenagers have really gone down in the previous years, however it is as yet thought to be a major issue in the United States. Teen birth rates are dropping drastically due to social media being a huge influence on avoiding possible teen pregnancies. Teen birth rates hit a sudden peak causing a steady decline. In the article, “What Is Behind the Declines in Teen Pregnancy Rates?” it mentions, “This marks a 51% decline in U.S. teen pregnancy from a peak in 1990, including a 15% drop between 2008 and 2010.” (Boonstra) Today, teen pregnancies birth rates have reached historic lows. I believe that pregnancy rates have decreased either due to teens are having less sex or because teens who are sexually active are taking contraceptives into consideration. Another possibility can be the way television shows and films portray how teen pregnancies really are and make more adolescents see the difficulties of what it is to have a child at such a young age.

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The drop of birth rates doesn’t really matter because it doesn’t directly affect anybody since it’s one of those long-term societal trends that occurs in small increments and doesn’t change the unemployment rate, the price of gas, the direction of the stock market or any of the big economic forces that make our lives better or worse today. It may seem intuitively obvious that a slower-growing or declining population is good for the economy. MTVs hit reality shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom were produced with an agenda of preventing teen pregnancy by displaying a carefully constructed image of early-age parenting. Watching 16 and Pregnant demonstrates that it helps teens better understand the challenges of pregnancy and parenthood. In the paper, “Media Influences on Social Outcomes: The Impact of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant on Teen Childbearing” it explains that:

The timing of the introduction of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant is such that it might have contributed to the most recent, very sharp decline. Ever since its introduction, various observers have made conflicting claims about the show’s influence on teens. Some have highlighted the show’s focus on the difficulties of raising a child at such a young age and have concluded from this coincident timing that the show is at least partially responsible for the recent decrease in teen childbearing rates. (Kearney)

People are not having children at the same rates as before or people are waiting longer and having less kids until they get closer to being financially stable. Raising children is becoming more expensive in the United States. For example, in the Guardian’s analysis it claims that it costs around $32,000 to give birth vaginally in the U.S. if you don’t have insurance. If you require a C-section, those costs increase to around $51,000. (Puglise) The population will decrease because people will have less kids due to costs. At the end of the day you cannot tell someone what to do or what not to do. If someone in their teenage years wants to have a planned baby, let them and if they choose not to, it is also their choice. If a teenager has a baby family and friends should be there to support them through it all because they are highly going through so many emotions and many rejections in their society. Having a television in the living room might have the power to transform behavior in the bedroom. This statement means that what women watch on television could subconsciously affect their decision in having sufficient kids causing a birth rate drop.

No one really sees how television shows have a huge impact on the prevention of teen pregnancies. Many people think television shows encourage teen pregnancies because the actors in the shows Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant have become stars, built their platform off the show, and have gained money from it. People see those examples as a motivation to have a baby but they don’t see how much it took the teen mom to get to that stage, it took a lot of emotions, rejection, and negativity. There have been several programs focused on preventing teen pregnancy from supporting only abstinence to more comprehensive sexual education programs. With the counteraction of adolescent pregnancy comes the avoidance of future financial hindrances and medical problems. Currently, there are over nineteen different forms of contraceptives. The most popular contraceptives are birth control, condoms, and abstinence.

Contraceptives

Many adolescents are not ready for pregnancy or childbirth, so they are more prone to complications while pregnant and many upon delivering a baby. Many methods can be used to prevent teenage pregnancy and can decrease the birth rate significantly. In the article “Pregnancy Prevention in Adolescents” it further explains:

Successful strategies to prevent adolescent pregnancy include community programs to improve social development, responsible sexual behavior education, and improved contraceptive counseling and delivery. Many of these strategies are implemented at the family and community level. The family physician plays a key role by engaging adolescent patients in confidential, open, and nonthreatening discussions of reproductive health, responsible sexual behavior (including condom use to prevent sexually transmitted diseases), and contraceptive use (including the use of emergency contraception). This dialogue should begin before initial sexual activity and continue throughout the adolescent years. (As-Sanie)

One should be informed about teen pregnancies and contraceptives as soon as one hits their teenage years. The first important step to lower the pregnancy rate for teens is to have all public schools receive comprehensive sex education (abstinence is the ideal behavior). Preventions for a teen pregnancy are not hard to accomplish or get a hold of. As a matter of fact, it has become easier to learn what preventions can be done to avoid a baby in your teenage years. Schools offer health classes and have nurses that can give you information and contraceptives for free. They can also recommend you to places that give birth control for free or at a super low cost for those in need that come from low class. If there are many preventions for an unplanned baby to not happen one should take into consideration contraceptives. The abortion rates would just increase because people would feel the need that the only solution to not have a baby they are not ready for is to get an abortion when in that case that is not the only solution for that. In the article, “MTV’s ‘16 and Pregnant’ and ‘Teen Mom’ discouraging teen pregnancy: study” it shows us statistics, “While ’16 and Pregnant’ and ‘Teen Mom’ have been criticized for glamorizing teen pregnancy, the study suggests that it drew in teenagers who were at a greater risk of getting pregnant and showed them the more immediate impact it could have on their lives.” (Taylor) The show shows the true life of a teen parent, as Kerney said, “You see she’s fighting with her boyfriend on a daily basis. She’s gaining weight. Her friends are partying without her.” By them doing this it gives teenagers a sudden feeling to think twice about having a baby. I see these shows as discouraging teen pregnancies. The raw footage they show is enough for one to get convinced on rather they want to have a planned pregnancy at such a young age. Once I saw these shows I knew right away I did not want to have a baby during my teenage years. They would show how the teen mothers family was not accepting her, had baby daddy issues, financial issues, depression, etc. To be honest, this show scared me and made me start taking care of myself well.

Nowadays, clinics try to help and provide birth control to females for free or at a low cost. All it takes is for someone to help someone out in these types of situations to avoid so much. Although people look down on girls that get pregnant at such a young age and it differs from whenever you are at least in your late twenties, they are similar in many ways.

Consequences/Effects

Teenager pregnancy causes genuine physical and enthusiastic issues for young moms, in this manner there ought to be steps taken to keep such things from occurring. Early pregnancy significantly affects the lives of teen mothers. Teenage females associated with childbearing expose themselves to many risks and negative effects that can affect their future. Females result with many consequences due to teenage pregnancy. In the article, “What Are the Effects of Teenage Pregnancy?” it gives us many effects that teens go through:

Carrying a baby and becoming a mom not only creates physical changes. Women also go through mental changes… Teenage mothers are more likely to fall in demographic categories that make the risk of mental illness higher… Teenage parents often don’t complete higher levels of education. They often have more restricted economic opportunities than older parents… Children born to adolescent parents face greater challenges throughout their lives. These challenges include getting less education and worse behavioral and physical health outcomes… (Nall)

There is no excuse for why one became a teen parent when there are many preventions that can be done. Teenage pregnancy does not only brings a wide variety of problems to the mother, but can also bring problems to the child. In the paper, “The Socioeconomic Consequences of Teen Childbearing Reconsidered” it emphasizes, “Included in the first category, which we refer to as ‘primary outcomes,’ are the most direct indicators of material well-being: family income and income per family member… The second category contains outcomes that we call ‘secondary’; they are chiefly of interest as correlates of or instruments for achieving economic well-being.” (Geronimus) Teenage pregnancies are accompanied by a number of adverse consequences such as reduced educational experience, reduced employment, family expansion, and increased risks of parents and poverty. The lack of knowledge about the consequences of teen pregnancy is the main factor causing adolescent youth to be irresponsible sexual behavior. They both can experience the same type of consequences.

Consequences tend to scare people from having a baby whether you’re young or older. There are good and bad things that come with a teenager having a baby. They are your forever blessings. A young mother struggles hard every day. In a way, in order to maintain the health of the society, and develop a happy and peaceful society, it is essential to take revolutionary steps to restrain growing numbers of teenage pregnancies in the country.

Background Research

I know a few women in my family who were teen parents and it wasn’t easy for either of them. For example, my mother had me at the age of 17. To begin with, my mother had to drop out of school as soon as she found out she was pregnant. She didn’t have a job at the time nor did the father of the baby, he was also not so supportive throughout the pregnancy. Therefore, after I was born my mother had to work two jobs because she continued to live with her parents but the help from her family wasn’t enough since they were from a low-middle class family. My mother was able to overcome the stereotypes that come with being a teen parent. She was able to continue her education after I was born and was able to earn a college degree. After getting a well paying job as an accountant, and is financially stable now but it was not easy for her to do. Overall, my mother did a great job giving me the best life she could no matter what situation she was in.

One may not have it so easy in the beginning but there are always possibilities to get out of issues. You just need to push through it all and get where you want to be with your goals. The effects are just mainly in the beginning then once you get older you start getting over these effects. So long as you set goals for yourself, one should not see a child at a young age as a bad thing but see it as motivation to continue and persevere now not only for yourself but for your child as well.

Conclusion

While teen pregnancy continues to be a problem in today’s society, there has been a steady decline in birth rates. Birth rates of teenage pregnancy have declined across all racial/ethnic groups since the 1990s in the United States. The cause of these declines are from abstaining from sex, better use of contraceptives, and watching shows about teen preganancies. There are many ways one can prevent an unplanned teen pregnancy from occuring. Some ways are that teenagers need to have a comprehensive understanding of abstinence, sex education, contraceptive techniques, a supportive family, and consequences. The number one way a teenage girl can prevent pregnancy is through sexual abstinence. Television shows on teen pregnancies tend to scare teenagers due to the raw footage and experiences they show. Nobody would ever want to go through such an unsupportive teen pregnancy. One knows whether to get pregnant in their teenage years or not if it is planned. A planned teenage pregnancy occurs when the teenagers know their families would be 100% supportive but if they weren’t they wouldn’t get pregnant. Teenage pregnancy may be a hard circumstance to handle, but with love and family support all things are possible. One should not see it as their lives are over but as your are now going to a slightly different path that you anticipated. While not easy at any age a child is a blessing and one should always see it that way. 

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