Teen Pregnancy Issues - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: Teen Pregnancy Issues Teen Pregnancy Issues [Institute’s Teen Pregnancy Issues Introduction United s has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy amongst the developed countries and although, these rates have decreased in the recent years, they are still alarming enough for policymakers and the entire society. The fact is that this rate is twice as much as the rate in UK and Canada. Almost 0.75 million teens get pregnant in US every year, with the State of Nevada having the highest teen pregnancy rate where 11 teens out of every 100 teens report teenage pregnancy. The federal government has estimated that it is spending almost 40 billion US dollars annually in order to help families that come into being with a teenage mom giving birth to a child. Statistics indicate that more than 45 percent of the females and more than 48 percent of the males in high school are sexually active (Duncan, et al., 2011). This paper is an attempt to explore the issue of teenage pregnancy. More specifically, the paper would focus on the link of child welfare with teenage pregnancy. Discussion There is both empirical and theoretical evidence to prove that the children born to teenage mothers are highly likely to be at risk. In a nationwide survey of 5214 teenage mothers from the period of 2001-2009 revealed that almost 70 percent of those teenage mothers expressed their regret about not engaging in sexual intercourse. Quite clearly, mothers who regret giving birth of their babies are less likely to fit the traditional picture of loving, caring, tendering, affectionate, concerned and gentle mother (Lancaster & Hamburg, 2010). There is empirical evidence to suggest that teenage mothers are less likely to show their love to their children through verbal and physical gestures. Teenage mothers are less likely to engage in affectionate behaviours such as touching, smiling, kissing and hugging of the child. Studies also show a direct correlation between the social supports that the teenage mothers get and the degree to which they rely on punishment to alter the behavior and attitude of their child (Duncan, et al., 2011). However, the fact is that many of these teenage mothers do not have support, which means that they are more likely to use anger to deal with their child. Research also indicates that this unfair treatment shows its impacts in the future years as well (Lancaster & Hamburg, 2010). Daughters born to teenage mothers are 56 percent more likely to be become teenage mother themselves thus initiating a deadly and never-ending cycle of teenage pregnancy. Furthermore, research has also shown that sons born to teenage mothers are three to four times more likely to wind up in prison at least once during their youth (Siegel, & Welsh, 2011). Important here to note is that when these mothers give birth to a child, they start a family. However, the tragedy is that most of these families are incomplete and the teenage mothers, who is supposed to be studying and learning how to interact with the real world, actually starts facing the cruel world (Arai, 2009). More than 90 percent of the teenage mothers, when they give to their babies, are either not married and in some cases, when they are married, the biological father of the child is not the husband of the mother. Most likely, these teenager mothers are on their own which means that within a few months, their life changes (Siegel, & Welsh, 2011). They do not even get the time to realize that now they are no longer that carefree teenage girl, experiencing and interacting with the world on their own terms but they are not technically, a mother, a woman with a huge responsibility on their shoulders. Unfortunately, they require financial resources to fulfill these responsibilities and in case of many of these teenage mothers, the financial resources are scarce thus further amplifying the problem (Lancaster & Hamburg, 2010). Therefore, most of these children wind up in the foster care. Even worse, these children are less likely to perform better in their schools and colleges for obvious reasons. These children are more likely to fit the criteria of a problem child thus increasing their chances of becoming a drop out (Holgate et al., 2009). A study conducted with the children born to teenage mothers in Washington, Oregon and California revealed that children from teenage mothers are ten times more likely to drop out of their schools. Furthermore, as compared to other children, these children are twice as likely to repeat a grade thus damaging their academic careers. In addition, studies also reveal that children who repeat a certain grade within school are only 1 percent likely to get an above average paying job in their future lives (Siegel, & Welsh, 2011; Lancaster & Hamburg, 2010). Also important to note is the fact that besides all these problems which emerge after the birth of the child due to environmental factors, being born to a teenage mother is more likely to cause problems in term of malnourishment, low birth weight and various kinds of impairment in the children. Studies believe that there are many reasons for the same. First, teenage mothers are more likely to experience stress, depression, anxiety and uncertainty about the birth and the future of their children thus negatively influencing the health of child (Holgate et al., 2009). Adult mothers are more likely to go through special classes and get help from their partners to relax. Second, the eating habits of teenage mother are also more likely to be unhealthy with high amounts of junk food, fast food, unhealthy diets and others. Adult mothers might get more supervision in term of their diet (Lancaster & Hamburg, 2010). Third, studies suggest that when teenage mother go for prenatal care only in the last couple of months, adult mother plan for that with their families from the second or third month. Fourth and more importantly, most of the problems in children from teenage mothers are there because of the fact that teenage mothers are not able to or willingly do not provide the required medical care to their attention thus causing and further amplifying health problems (Duncan, et al., 2011; Lancaster & Hamburg, 2010). Conclusion There are no doubts in the fact that there is high degree of correlation between being born to a teenage mother and having a dark future including social, economic, physical and psychological problems. There are studies that even point out a causation between health and behavioral problems in children born to teenage mothers with teenage pregnancy. In fact, teenage pregnancy does not only put the children on risk but the teenage mother themselves are at risk as well (Arai, 2009). References Arai, L. (2009). Teenage pregnancy: the making and unmaking of a problem. The Policy Press. Lancaster, J., & Hamburg, B. (2010). School-Age Pregnancy & Parenthood: Biosocial Dimensions. Transaction Publishers. Duncan, S., et al. (2011). Teenage Parenthood: What's the Problem? Tufnell Press. Holgate, H. S., et al. (2009). Teenage pregnancy and parenthood: global perspectives, issues and interventions. Routledge. Siegel, L. J., & Welsh, B. C. (2011). Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice, and Law. Cengage Learning. Read More