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Teen Pregnancy Rates Paper

Decent Essays

This week’s assignment had me take a closer look on how environment truly influences teen pregnancy rates in my community. Teens living in poverty have a greater likelihood of becoming pregnant than teens living in affluent communities. What causes this disparity? Social and environmental factors are in large part responsible for the disparity. The adults in lower- income families are often less educated, have a criminal history, hold low-income jobs, or are unemployed. Lower income communities are plagued by gun violence, gang inhabitance, and the availability of drugs. Teens that become pregnant at an early age, have parents that themselves were pregnant as teens ("Teen Pregnancy Facts, Teen Pregnancy Statistics Teen Pregnancy - Environmental …show more content…

According to the CDC, Teen pregnancy rates are highest within the Hispanic and African American demographic ("Social Determinants and Teen Pregnancy / Teen Pregnancy / Reproductive Health / CDC," 2015). This trend can be linked to neighborhood income inequality and lower educational opportunity for these demographics ("Social Determinants and Teen Pregnancy / Teen Pregnancy / Reproductive Health / CDC," 2015). In my Voicethread post I addressed the idea of generational poverty for many families in urban communities across the country. Adolescents and teens that have grandparents and parents that live in poverty are more likely to experience poverty in their adult lives. Low-income families rely on multiple forms of government aid, including food stamps, rent assistance, and other governmental subsidies to decrease their financial burden each month. Cyclic poverty is among the most difficult patterns to overcome. Decreased economic prospects for young girls in urban environments steer them towards teen parenting (Kempner, 2013). Watching their parents ‘get by’ is enough motivation for vulnerable young women to take the plunge into parenthood. However, parents that seek education and personal betterment often seek safer environments in which to raise their children, breaking the cycle of poverty for their families. The educational push by the adults in their lives should be there for teens,

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