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The truth about teen pregnancy was of great interest because I want to understand the impact it has on society and why so many teens feel the need to get pregnant. I developed an interest in teen pregnancy through a family friend who suggested the topic. I thought about it for a while and felt that this is an important social issue that many aren’t fully aware of the critical impact it has on individuals. Overall, this is still an enormous problem that needs to be addressed because of the underlying issues that play a part in teen pregnancy.
Teen pregnancy is closely linked to a host of other critical social issues such as welfare dependency and overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, responsible fatherhood, and workforce development in particular. However, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy believes that preventing teen pregnancy should be viewed not only as a reproductive health issue, but also as one that works to improve all of theses measures. Simply put, if more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them we would see significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect.
Teen pregnancy is still a major problem even though less sexual activity among teens and increased contraceptive uses have both contributed to the encouraging declines in the teen pregnancy and birth rates during the 10s. Teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest level in 0 years and teen births rates are at the lowest level ever recorded in this country. However, we still have a long way to go according to (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 1)
· Despite the recent good news, the United States still has the highest rates of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion in the fully industrialized world.
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· Four in ten girls become pregnant at least once before age 0--- over 00,000 teen pregnancies annually.
· There are nearly half a million teen births each year. Also each hour nearly 100 teen girls get pregnant and 55 give birth.
· About 40 % of pregnant teens are 17 or younger.
· Nearly eight in ten pregnancies among teens are not planned or intended.
· At present, 7 percent of births to teen mothers are out-of-wedlock � a dramatically different picture 0 years ago when the vast majority of births to teen mothers were within marriage.
· Some teens are having sex earlier. One major data set indicates that the only group of teen girls showing increase in sexual activity is those under age 15. And, a 1 study indicated that 8. %of students report having sex before age 1�a disturbing 15% increase since 17.
· Many of the fathers of children born to teen mothers are older; almost half of young men who impregnate a minor teen (under 18) are three or more years older.
· The overall declines have masked high rates that exist for certain teens, defined by geography, age, and racial or ethnic group. For example, in some states, teen pregnancy problem has gotten worse in selected communities.
· Among Hispanics, the fastest growing ethnic group in the nation, teen birth rates have declined more slowly than for other groups over the 10s and Hispanics now have the highest teen birth rate nationally. Birth rates for Hispanics teens have actually increased in a number of states.
· Between 15 and 010, the number of girl’s aged 15-1 will increase by . million. If current fertility rates remain the same, we will see 6 % increase in the number of pregnancies and birth among teenagers.
Also, continuing to reduce teen pregnancy will sustain the recent decreases in welfare dependency and poverty, especially persistent child poverty. Poverty is a cause as well as a consequence of early childbearing, and some impoverished young mother may end up faring poorly no matter when their children are born. Nevertheless, most experts agree that although disadvantaged backgrounds account for many of the burdens that young women shoulder, having a baby only makes matter worse. For instances, compared to women of similar social-economic status who postpone childbearing, teen mothers are more likely to end up on welfare (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 17). Furthermore, almost one-half of all teen mothers and over three-quarters of unmarried teen mothers began receiving welfare within five years of the birth of their first child. In addition, some 5% of all mothers on welfare had their first child as a teenager (Jacobson &Maynard 15).
Teen mothers are also less likely to complete the education necessary to qualify for a well-paying job � only 41% of mothers who have children before age 18 ever complete high school compared to with 61% of similarly situated young women who delay child bearing until age 0 or 1 (Hotz, McElroy, & Sanders, 17). Therefore, the increase in child poverty between 180 and 16 was related to the increase in nonmarital childbearing, and half of never-married mothers begin their childbearing as teens. As a result, two-thirds of families begun by a young unmarried mother are poor. Likewise, 80% of fathers of children born to teen mothers do not marry the mothers.
In addition, fathers pay less than $800 annually in child support, often because they are quite poor themselves. Since child support can be an important source of income for poor children, children born to young fathers are at further disadvantage. Even more important, teen mothers are likely to have a second birth relatively soon- about one-fourth of teenage mothers have a second child within 4 months of the first birth- which can further impede their ability to finish school or keep a job, and to escape poverty.
In order to keep moving forward with recipients going to work, the federal welfare reform law placed a strong emphasis on reducing out-of �wedlock childbearing and teen pregnancy. Welfare caseloads have declined dramatically since 16 and millions of low-income parents have moved into the labor force. Child poverty rates have also declined significantly. However, this progress could be short-lived if every welfare recipient who goes to work and begins moving toward self �sufficiency is replaced by a pregnant younger sister, or daughter, who is not prepared to support a family. To sustain the progress made, it is important to implement policies and invest resources that help young people- both girls and boys �avoid premature pregnancy and childbearing (Newman 67).
In addition, to welfare dependency and poverty there is also the issue of teen pregnancy and child well-being. Reducing teen pregnancy will enhance child well-being. The children of teen mothers bear the greatest burden of teen pregnancy and childbearing, and are at significantly increased risk for a number of economic, social, and health problems. Teen mothers are more likely to be born prematurely and at low birth weight, raising the probability of infant death, blindness, deafness, chronic respiratory problems, mental retardation, mental illness, cerebral palsy, dyslexia, and hyperactivity (Johnson 5).
Also, children of teen mothers do worse in school than those born to older parents. They are 50% more likely to repeat a grade, are less likely to complete high school than the children of older mothers, and have lower performance on standardized test (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 17). Furthermore, children of teen parents also suffer higher rates of abuse and neglect than would occur if their mothers had delayed childbearing. As a result, sons of teens mother are 1% more likely to end up in prison, and daughters of teen parents are % more likely to become teen mothers themselves (Maynard 17).
Next, the issue of business relate to teen pregnancy is out-of-wedlock births, and marriages. A way to handle this issue is to try decreasing out-of-wedlock childbearing and increasing the percentage of children born to married couples. While the majority of non-martial births are to adult women, the teen years are frequently a time when unmarried families are first formed- a strong rationale for focusing on teens in any broad effort to reduce out-of-wedlock childbearing. The concerns of out-of-wedlock issue is that although only three out of ten out-of-wedlock births in the United States are to teenagers, nearly half (48%) of non-martial first births occur to teens �the largest single group (Sawhill, 18, p1-8).
Therefore, 80% of teen births are to unmarried teens, up from 15% in 160. As far as, marriage between men and women marry on average three to four years later than did their counterparts in the 150s (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 1). As a result of later marriage and both earlier menarche and earlier age of first sex, teens today begin having sex roughly eight years before marriage.
In contrast with the 160s and 170s, when most of the growth of single-parent families was caused by increases in divorce or separation, nearly all of the growth in the 180s and 10s has been driven by increases in out-of-wedlock childbearing. Therefore teen mothers spend more of their young adults years as single parents than do women who delay childbearing. Likewise, children in single-parent families are more likely to get pregnant as teenagers than their peers who grow up with two parents. Consequently, only 0% of teen mothers who marry after their child is born remains in those marriages and teen marriages are twice as likely to fail as marriages in which the women is at least 5% years old (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 1).
Even more important, trying to reduce teen pregnancy contributes to the goal of enforcing responsible fatherhood. Research shows that involved and committed fathers are important to the well-being of their children. But unfortunately, children born to teen parents are often denied a close connection with their father because the relationship between their parents is more likely to dissolve over time (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 1). Children that live apart form their fathers are five times more likely to be poor than children with both parents at home.
Also, boys and girls without involved fathers are twice as likely to drop out of school, twice as likely to abuse alcohol or drugs, twice as likely to end up in jail, and nearly four times likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems. In fact, over two decades of research confirms that parents both fathers and mothers are an important influence on whether their teenagers become pregnant or cause a pregnancy.
However, 40 states have strategies to prevent unwanted or too-early fatherhood. Still, too many young men are not waiting until they are ready emotionally, and financially to become fathers. Although this may be true, sexual activity among teenage boys is declining. Data shows that after increasing % between 186 and 11, the teen birth rate for fathers aged 15-1 remained fairly constant until 14, then decreased 16 percent between 14 and 1. These data also show that approximately 168,000 babies are born to teen mothers in 1 had fathers under age 0. Nonetheless, eight out of teen fathers do not marry the mothers of these children. Absent fathers of teen mothers pay less than $800 annually for child support, often because they are quit poor themselves, and some research shows that teen fathers have lower levels of education and suffer earning loses of 10-15 % annually than teens who do not father children (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 1).
Finally, the last issue with teen pregnancy is workforce development. Today’s economy demands a sophisticated and educated workforce. However, teen pregnancy and too-early parenthood often short circuit the education process and prevent young men and women from preparing themselves for good jobs and becoming established in the labor market. Teen parents and their children are less likely to graduate from high school (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 1).
In fact, less than four of the 10 teen mothers whom being their families before age 18 ever complete high school. Also, in the past 5 years, the median income for college graduates has increased 1%, while median income for high school dropouts has decreased 0%. As a result, fully half of teen mothers drop out of school before becoming pregnant. When compared to similarly situated women who delay childbearing until age 0 or , teen mothers and their children experience a number of adverse social and economic consequences (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 1). For example, 5% of all mothers on welfare had their first child as a teenager.
Nevertheless, with all the other critical issues stated above that go hand& hand with teen pregnancy, there are some reasons why most teen become pregnant. For instances
· Teens become pregnant because of peer pressure and their friends are telling them it is okay to have a child.
· Positive social support is often missing, and teens are not encouraged to wait to become sexually active or to have babies.
· Teens are becoming pregnant to rebel against their parents
· They want someone to love
· Teens become pregnant because they are bored and don’t have any alternate activities besides having sex
There are many reasons why teens become pregnant and later face other issues as well. However, most teens are becoming pregnant because of lack of responsibility, education about se and parenting activity, self-respect, options, nurturing and social support along with the above examples.
In addition, to teen childbearing having serious consequences for teen parents, their children, and society; it also has important economic consequences. Helping young women avoid too-early pregnancy and childbearing, and young men avoid premature fatherhood, is easier and much more cost effective than dealing with all of the problems that occur after the babies are born (Holmes 16).
· Teen childbearing costs taxpayers at least $7 billion each year in direct costs associated with health care, foster care, criminal justice, and public assistance, as well as lost tax revenue.
· A cost benefit analysis suggests that the government could spend up to eight times more than is currently being spent on teen pregnancy prevention and still break even.
· A study estimating the cost effectiveness and cost-benefit of one particular curriculum found that for every dollar invested in the program, $.65 in total medical and social costs were saved. The savings were produced by preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
· If teen birth rates had stayed at the level they were in the early 10s, 15,468 thousand more babies would have been born to teens.
In sum, the emerging sobering facts above should help society understand why preventing pregnancy is critical to improving not only the lives of young women and men but also the future prospects of their children. Indeed, one of the surest ways to improve overall child well-being is to reduce the proportion of children born to teen mothers.
Work cited
Holmes, Steven, A. ( 16). “6 Cost of Teen Pregnancy is Put at $7Billion,” New York Times.
Hotz V.J., McElroy, S.W., & Sanders, S.G. (17) The impacts of teenage childbearing on the mothers and the consequences of those impacts for government.
Jacobson. J., & Maynard, R. (15). Unwed mothers and long-term dependency. Washington, DC American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Johnson, Sherry. Teen Pregnancy Too Much, Too Soon. Waco, TX Health Edco., 15.
Maynard, R. (Ed). (17). Kids Having Kids Robin Hood Foundation Special Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing. New York Robin Hood Foundation
National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (17) Whatever Happened to Childhood? The Problem of Teen Pregnancy in the United States. Washington, DC Author.
National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (1). State-by-State Information. National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. www.teenpregnancy.org
Newman, Philip R. and Barbara M. Newman. Childhood and Adolescence. Pacific Grove Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 17.
Sawhill, I.V. (18). Teen pregnancy prevention Welfare reform’s missing component. Brookings Policy Brief, 8, 1-8.
Teen Pregnancy Not Just Another Single Issue
Sondra Cummings
Georgia Military College
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