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 are high school graduates. The legacy repeats itself with these children; they are 50% more likely to repeat a grade during their entire school career, they perform badly on standardized tests, and they tend to drop out of high school before finishing (March of Dimes, 2009).
Despite the programs and schools that exist to help them finish their studies, Mangel (2010) states quite bluntly that most pregnant teens drop out of school, after which they face a lifetime of economic insecurity at best, and of hardship at worst. The author adds discrimination as an extra dimension to the difficulties that pregnant teenagers face.
Huus (2010) notes that teen mothers who do not finish high school have much less earning potential than those who do finish high school and those who do not have children until later. According to the author, girls who have a child by 17, can expect to earn $28,000 less in th 15 years after birth than if they had children later in life. Sadly, the legacy repeats itself, with daughters of teen mothers being three times more likely than their peers to become teen mothers themselves, and sons being more likely to enter the prison system.
Mangel (2010) notes that civil rights issues could play a significant role, since there is a notable disparity between affluent areas and less affluent areas when comes to teen pregnancy rates. According to the author, the trend has been for pregnancy among White and Asian students to decrease, while it has been unchanged for American Indian, Hispanic, and Black students. In the Hispanic community, for example, about half of teenage girls become pregnant, compared to the national average of about a quarter. According to Mangel (2010), most girls who fall pregnant drop out of high school as a direct result. The author reports that most of these girls indicated that they would have stayed in school with greater support from the adults involved.
Conclusions and Recommendations
In addition to steps that can be taken to mitigate the situations faced by teenage mothers, another recommendation is to promote prevention among young people and schools. Because of the risks and lifetime hardships involved, entities like "March of Dimes" (2009) recommend that preventative action be taken, in the form of educational sessions encouraging young girls to take precautions when having sex, or to abstain from sex altogether until they are ready for children.
In the event of unplanned pregnancy, it is recommended that young mothers engage in healthy habits and activities, including healthy diet, healthy weight, and not smoking, drinking, or taking drugs.
Institutes such as Naral...
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
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
Moreover, an 'abstinence-only' education program is sometimes perceived by teenagers as providing one-sided and medically inaccurate information. (Studies by Kirby, 1997 and Huberman, quoted in "Reducing Teenage Pregnancy" 2006) shift in attitudes towards teenage sexuality must occur in the U.S. To facilitate the development of appropriate policies and programs to reduce teenage pregnancy. Presently, sexual activity, rather than the pregnancies that can result from it, is seen as the
This large number was selected to ensure that the power of statistical tests used in the study is of sufficient power to draw valid conclusions. It is expected that given the sensitive nature of the subject, there will be large numbers of selected participants who will decide not to participate, will drop out, or whose parents will not sign the consent form. All participants selected will be taken from
There could be many reasons for this occurrence such as lack of funds or interest in a generally marginalized population. Many adolescent mothers are often dismissed as damaged goods in society and this trend may have carried over into the scientific research realm as well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2011 a total of 329,797 babies were born to adolescent women aged 15-19. This is
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;
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