Certain Factors Contributing to the Existence of Teenage Pregnancy - Literature review Example

The chapter will be divided into 4 parts. The first section will be dealing with the historical background of teen pregnancy. This is to highlight the fact that the issue is not something new and there are external factors that have been taken under consideration in dealing with teen pregnancy. The second part will tackle various socio-economic factors that have been identified as adding to the gravity of the risks of teenage pregnancy. This is significant as it acknowledges the supposition that there are various extenuating factors in the external environment of the adolescent that increases the risk of teen pregnancy and reduces the teen’s resilience in facing the issue.

The third part of the chapter will tackle the inter-generational effect of teen parents to their adolescent children – are the children of teenage parents facing an increased probability of teenage pregnancy? The fourth section will deal with the issue of whether there is ‘possible connection’ between increased STDs and teen pregnancy among adolescents. The fifth part of the chapter will discuss some observed gaps in the discourse presented in the literature review.  Finally, a chapter summary will be given at the end of the chapter.

Hopefully, in the end, the conceptual clarification undertaken in this chapter may help in achieving a better understanding of the ideas and views in lieu of the issue surrounding teen pregnancy.   Early in 19th century, 30% of first births were a result of out-of-wedlock pregnancy. At that time, an unmarried female becoming pregnant was a community issue. This was connected with the attributed function of women as mother and caretaker of the home. In this regard, her education was deemed insignificant, as her focus was only the family.

The concern at that time was not the age of the mother, but the fact that she was carrying a baby out of wedlock. As a response to this, the community supports forced marriages. Reformers argue that this ‘solution’ show the double standard of the society as it showed no restriction on the promiscuity of men whereas women were forced into “forced marriage” to correct the shame brought about by out of wedlock pregnancy.