Finding the Root Cause of Teenage Pregnancy

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In 2009, teen births, which is defined as pregnancy that occurs in young females between the ages of 13-19, accounted for 10.1% of all births in the United States and 21.4% of all nonmarital births. The birth rate for U.S. teenagers increased in 2006 and 2007 after a steady decline since 1991. The United States is ranked first among the nation in teenage pregnancy and teens in the US are more likely to become pregnant than other teens in other countries. For example, US teens are twice as likely to give birth than teens in Canada and ten times more likely than those in Switzerland (Danawi, Bryant, and Hasbini 2016).

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The way that it is considered a social problem is, because it is happening more frequently to the point where it is becoming a social norm and it can also have a negative effect on the physical, psychological, and social wellbeing of the teen mother and the offspring.

The way that it can affect the teen mother is that they are most likely to have a poor health status and also a high mortality rate.

They also have an increased risk of heart disease and cervical cancer as well as a greater risk of low socioeconomic level and a high risk of poverty. The child is the way that I plan to solve teenage pregnancy is by incorporating more sex education into schools. According to states that taught sex education tends to have less teen pregnancy rates I think that Teen pregnancy is important to solve, because it can help inform teenagers of the consequence of them engaging in sexual activity at an early age and can also save the government money and also there will be more.

Teen births cost around 9.4 billion a year. What I would like to see happen in this research is to have a negative correlation between sex education and teen pregnancy, which means that if sex education increases, then teen pregnancies will decline.

Literature Review

Current Literature covers different topics about teenage pregnancy such as sex education, race, socioeconomic level, media, abstinence only courses, how schools affect teenage pregnancy, and parenting. The first thing that literature discuss is the racial aspect of teenage pregnancy. There has been a big difference found in many studies between African Americans and white teens. They have proven racial and ethnic minority groups have experience a higher pregnancy rate than their counterparts within the united states and it has shown that out of ten African American teens there will be four teens that will end up being teen parents and Latinos who have emigrated to the united states form their native countries tend to have a higher risk of unintended pregnancy.

Race

There have been differences found in studies between African American and whites in adults and teenagers perceived norms about teen pregnancy.
Low income blacks have been more accepting to teen pregnancy
The teen pregnancy rates for African American teens is twice as high than that of white teens
For African American teens four out if 10 will end up pregnant before twenty
Racial and ethnic Minorities groups experience higher rates of teenage pregnancy than their counterparts in the united states
Latinos who have emigrated to the united states from their native countries tend to have higher risks of unintended teen pregnancy as a teen

Socioeconomic Levels

Stronger norms again nonmarital teen pregnancy have been document among more highly educated Americans
Research have not examined school level socioeconomic status
School norms may discourage teenagers from getting pregnant
Schools with high level of inequality have varying degrees of opportunities available for their students
Teenagers who live in a dilapidated neighborhoods are more likely to experience poor educational attainment, teen pregnancy, poor mental health and youth violence
Teenagers who live in overcrowded areas with poor public infrastructure and high levels of violence are at greater risk of becoming pregnant
The presence of graffiti litter and physical disorders in the neighborhood is associated with teen pregnancy

Parents Affect on Teenage Pregnancy

Education

Teens who live in in a poor environment may feel that due to limited educational opportunities there is no reason to delay childbirth
Educational level of parents is also related with the risk of teen pregnancy
Those who complete their secondary education tend to have a better health and have a higher motivation to prevent pregnancy
Those who are more committed to attending higher education and university may also be committed to delay their pregnancy
The educational lifespan of a teen mother is almost two years shorter than that of a teen who decides to delay childbirth
Less likely to go to college

Abstinence Only Course

Cultural Awareness

Among different racial and ethnic groups teen pregnancy is very common and some teenagers may be exposed to it by their families or environment some culture believe that early motherhood may help them secure their relationship
What literature haven’t discussed is how a person family or parents may have affected their choices to become teen parents and also how some teen mothers may often face discrimination. Literature should include how teenagers themselves are affected whether its by being judge by other or whether they face discrimination.
I’ve talked to females who were teen parents and majority of them stated that they often faced discrimination from the general public. Which may come in the form of disapproval, they also discussed with me on how it has affected them in negative ways

Methods

Y=B0*B1+X1*B2+X2*B3+X3+e

The Y Represents Teenage pregnancy, which is the social problem. Next is X1, which is the outcome variable, sex education, that would become a solution for teenage pregnancy. X2-X4 represent the control variables that can affect the outcome variable, but not as much as the predictor variable would.

The way that I decided to analyze each independent variable is that I did survey type questions and I surveyed six different females around the ages of 15-52. For the Y variable I whether or not they were teen parents. This question is similar to how I how I coded for x1 and x2 which ask them about their exposure to teenage pregnancy in the media and have they taken any sex ed courses throughout their teenage years. They would either answer yes (1) or no (0). The next way I analyzed the last two variables is that I ask them how may friends where involved in sexual activity at a young age, which is related to peer pressure and with religion I based it on a scale of 1-4 One represents the religion that is least associated with teenage pregnancy and four represents the religion that is mostly related to teen pregnancy.

The Y represents Teenage Pregnancy, which is my outcome variable and the problem that I am trying to solve. X1 represents Sex education, I will be using sex education as a solution to solve teenage pregnancy, because many school only teach abstinence and when they do touch on the subject of teen pregnancy, they tend to surpass it without informing teenager what they really need to know. Sex education, which is the. X2 is Media, which is my first control variable. The media have teenage pregnancy throughout the media. In the beginning it has been proven that the teenagers who has been exposed to teenage pregnancy in the media has shown low pregnancy rates, but now that seems to have change. Media today tends to glamorize teenage pregnancies, while hiding the fact of what teen moms really go through. Teens today may see pregnancy as a way to become “famous” For example, teens may look to the other teen moms as a role model and they my think that if that happen to them, it may happen to me also.

Media

Peer Pressure: Religion

Research have found that in the more religious states there have been higher rates of teen pregnancy, it has also been shown that could be more religious teens that are having more sex than the less religious teens. I also the
Religious individuals tend to have stronger proscriptions regarding aspects of sexuality
Many private schools are running by religion

Conclusion

The primary purpose of this essay was to inform teens about the effects of teenage pregnancy and how school can incorporate sex education classes as a way to prevent teenage pregnancy and also as a way to inform adolescents about all the options that they have if they do decide to have children early. Even though teenage pregnancy rates are declining, it is still considered a documented problem today. In the united states there are approximately between 890,000-900,000 teenage pregnancies every year and cost roughly around $9 billion a year for pregnancies. The birth rate for U.S. teens has dropped in 16 of the last 18 years it remains higher than the teenage birth rate of most industrialized nations. In recognition of the negative, long-term consequences associated with teenage pregnancy and births, the prevention of pregnancy among teenagers is a major public policy goal of this nation.