Sex Education Programs -- These include group discussion and emphasize the importance of peer influence (Orecchia, 2009). Research has shown that psycho-educational groups are especially effective in reducing risk behavior among teenage females. Statistics show that young Latina, Native American and African-American girls have higher teen birth rates than whites. First sexual experiences also occur to black females earlier than their white counterparts. The younger they become sexually active, the less likely they use protective means. Practitioners recommend community-based and culturally specific adolescent pregnancy prevention programs for African-American girls younger than 11 or 12. On the other hand, Latina youth need help from staff members who understand Latino culture and speak Spanish. These staff members must emphasize the importance of education to future financial stability among these young girls. Staff members must also be responsive to generational differences and gender roles among Latino families. Intervention with young Native American girls involves trusted family, school and community leaders and greater access to contraceptives (Orecchia).
Practitioners' Perceptions
Qualitative interviews with 58 teenage pregnancy prevention practitioners elicited insights into the realities in implementing culturally sensitive programs (Russell et al., 2004). They work primarily with Mexican-American female teenagers in two regions in California. They consider the knowledge and awareness of Hispanic culture and commitment to the teenagers and their needs essential. They also regard educational and career achievement activities as critical program components. The involvement of the girls' partners and family members are equally important while challenging. At the same time, they observe that implicit program goals of continued education and female self-sufficiency as clashing with traditional Hispanic cultural values. On the whole, respondent-practitioners see the need to balance prevention programs' competing values and goals with those Hispanic culture and experiences (Russell et al.).
Focus on Older Female Teens
Eight out of 10 teen pregnancies and births belong to older teens or those aged 18-19 (Suellentrop, 2010). Pregnancy rates are thrice higher in them than for younger teens. Reported declines were smaller and recent increases are larger in their category. Most of these pregnancies are unplanned and belong to unmarried women. Almost 250,000 births to unmarried older teen women or 83% of all births among 18-19-year-olds were recorded in 2008 alone. Social and economic risks to this age group appear more significant than in those aged 20-21. Children of teen mothers in the 18-19 age group are more likely to be placed in foster care or subjected to abuse or neglect in their first five years. They are also more likely to develop problem conditions in cognition and knowledge, language and communications, social skill and emotional well-being, and physical and motor development. Research furthermore shows that sons of teen mothers in this older teen bracket are more likely to be arrested, imprisoned and stay imprisoned longer than sons of mothers aged 20-21 (Suellentrop).
Teen mothers in this older age bracket are less likely to finish high school and get a diploma than those in the 20-21 age bracket (Suellentrop, 2010). They are also less likely to finish post-secondary education when compared with others who delay childbearing for a few more years. Summarily, children of teen mothers appear to do better if their mothers are slightly older. The chances also appear even better if the pregnancy is wanted and welcomed (Suellentrop).
Findings and Conclusion
The U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world with approximately 750,000 pregnancies every year, 82% of which are un-intended. A significant decline was recorded from 1995-2002 at 86% due to a correspondingly significant increase in the use of contraceptives. The dominant policy in 87% of public and private schools concerning teen pregnancy is abstinence, which has been noted to be ineffective. Teen pregnancy costs more than $9 billion of taxpayers' money in addition to a range of social and economic burdens on the women, their families, communities and the public. Teen pregnancy rates are highest among non-Hispanic black, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or...
Teen Pregnancies Young women who become pregnant will be in a vulnerable position regarding the completion of their education and in realizing all of their goals. Women who become teen mothers are less likely to finish high school, less likely to go on to college, and extremely less likely to earn even a middle class salary. Becoming pregnant as a teenager is a situation that needs to be avoided at all
Abortion trends varied widely by state as well. "Teenage abortion rates were highest in New York (41 per 1,000), New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware and Connecticut. By contrast, teenagers in South Dakota (6 per 1,000), Utah, Kentucky, Nebraska and North Dakota all had abortion rates of eight or fewer per 1,000 women aged 15 -- 19. More than half of teenage pregnancies ended in abortion in New Jersey, New York and
The result of this, as seen above, is that these mothers lack job skills, making it difficult not only to find employment that could adequately support themselves and their children, but also to retain these jobs once they find them. The result is that about 64% of children born under such conditions live in poverty, compared to 7% of children born to married women older than 20 and who
Teenage Pregnancy The disadvantages of teen pregnancy Teen pregnancy is increasing worldwide and the accompanying negative effects have dire implications for society. Countries have engaged in aggressive campaigns to arrest and limit the number of teens becoming pregnant. There has been limited success from the approaches utilized because of the multiple variables that influence a teenage to engage in sexual behavior. A critical part of the problem is that most teens are
Typically, class does have an effect upon teen pregnency for a variety of reasons. The urban poor tend to have less access to some of the opportunities and activities of middle and upper class girls; they are often alone longer during the day because their mother or grandmother is working; they often do not have access to the same amount of information about birth control and/or abstinance that other children;
According to Tamara Kreinin, president of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S., "Manipulating facts about condoms is using a scare tactic to try and get kids not to be sexually active" (Morse, 2002). One of the consequences of a lack of full and complete information to youth actually causes self-imposed ignorance of their own safety. If adolescents do not get the proper education on protecting themselves from
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