In just one year approximately 750,000 teens get pregnant in the United States. Of those pregnancies, 85% are unplanned (Inez 2016). The question is why do these young women end up pregnant. The leading causes to teen pregnancy is due to the pressure that is put on girls, the lack of sex education, and the use of alcohol.
Teen Help states that of girls that are sexually active at the age of 15, three out of the four said that they had sex because their boyfriends wanted them to (Teenhelp.com). These young, vulnerable girls believe that if they end up doing what their boyfriends want, that the boys will love them or not leave them for another girl that will sleep with him. Many teens tend to feel the pressure of becoming sexually active before are actually ready to do so. During a survey, Secure Teen came to the conclusion that 30% of boys and 23% of girls were pressured by their other friends to have sex.(Secureteen.com). Teens pressuring other teens to do something that they are not mature enough or emotionally ready is one of the great factors on why teenage girls end up pregnant. Not only are teen girls being pressured to have sex by their significant other or friends, but society portrays sex as something that is in the norm for teens to be doing. Dar Rodriguez pointed out that the television shows “Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant promotes teens to get pregnant. Although it brings awareness to teen pregnancy and portrays the troublesome getting pregnant is by showing
Based on the readily available images broadcast from films, MTV and other mass media, one might assume that the teen pregnancy epidemic is on the rise. In one respect, this health risk condition has rarely been more culturally visible than it is right now. However, it does bear noting that teen pregnancy has actually been on the decline in the United States over the last two decades. According to the source provided by Sheets (2012), "from 1990 to 2008, the teen pregnancy rate decreased 42 percent (from 117 to 68 pregnancies per 1,000 teen girls)."
Where most students are doing homework, or on their gaming console, around that time freshman Deajanai Evans is around the house taking care of her 9 month son, Kayden. Deajanai Evans is a regular freshman at a regular high school in Oxford,Mississippi but there is one thing that sets her apart from the majority of the student body she is a mother. 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That's nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year. Parenthood is the leading reason that teen girls drop out of school. More than 50% of teen mothers never graduate from high school. “I felt great about having my baby because that kept me away from suicidal thoughts and i really didn't care how my family felt because they was not going to be the ones helping me”.Teenage girls are at increased risk of suicide if they are pregnant, a leading psychiatrist has warned. Veronica O'Keane, a consultant at Tallaght Hospital, argued that new laws on abortion were needed to save the lives of women believed to be a suicide risk. She said while it was rare for a woman to take her own life during pregnancy, suicide after birth is the leading cause of maternal death overall. "Adolescents are at a huge increased risk of committing suicide if they are pregnant. It's a leading cause of death in pregnancy and it's also rare," Prof O'Keane said. “to be honest the way school going right now its stressful but yea i care enough about it to want to finish and graduate.”Teenage
"Teen pregnancy in the United States: In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years old, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another record for U.S. teens and a drop of 8% from 2014. Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years. Still, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist (cdc.gov)." As teenagers (in the United States), we are peer pressured or tempted to try new things. Some teens tend to try out drugs, and alcohol. However, some are having unprotected sex in which, is leads to having babies. This is called, teenage pregnancy. This has caused the United States to create records based off of the statistics and facts given from, researchers across the United States. In order to help prevent teenage pregnancy in the United States, teenagers must understand why, having a baby now isn’t such a smart move on their part.
An ongoing epidemic in the United Sates is teen pregnancy. In America, our society is run down by many problems. Most are caused by the older generation, but this problem has risen with the younger generation around the age of 15-19. The peak of the teen pregnancy trend started in 1990 when 60 teen girls out of 1,000 had a teen birth ("About Teen Pregnancy.”). For every 1,000 females in 2013, on average only 27 out of the 1,000 had gone through teen birth ("About Teen Pregnancy.”). Over the years, it seems that the trend is winding down and that less and less teens appear to becoming pregnant. In 2013, the teen pregnancy rate decreased by 10% since 2012 and 57% 1990 ("Teen Birth Rate | The National Campaign.”).
Teen pregnancy is a growing epidemic in the United States. Teen girls are becoming pregnant at an alarming rate, with a lot of the pregnancies planned. With television shows broadcasting shows such as “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom”, it is giving teenage girls the idea that it is alright to have premarital sex and become pregnant. It is in a way condoning teen pregnancy.
Adolescents who have parents that are uninvolved in their lives have a greater chance of becoming pregnant than those with parents who are very concerned with their children’s lives (Singh, et al.). Adolescents who feel they do not get enough attention at home from their parents or siblings will sometimes intentionally get pregnant to draw attention to themselves and to feel important (Miller 16). For example, when kids have parents that are constantly working, they sometimes feel lonely and will try to get pregnant so they can feel less alone (Miller 16). Teens that have divorced or separated parents may think that becoming pregnant will give their parents a reason to be together, so they intentionally get pregnant to try and bring their family closer (Miller 16). Teens that live with both of their parents are a lot less likely to become pregnant (“Trends in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing”). Another time that adolescents will intentionally get pregnant is when they have a lot of brothers and sisters. These teens may feel that they are unimportant because their parents have to divide their time and money between however many children they have (Miller 16). Getting pregnant makes them think that they will get more attention from their parents, so they think it’s a great idea, when they really have no clue what they are
Some teenagers get pregnant due to not knowing about the consequences of unprotected sex. Most don’t know about any of the consequences because they don’t have anyone to talk to them about it and others just doesn’t want to listen. Parents don’t think their kids will ever think about having sex so they don’t feel the need to talk to them about it but that only leads to teenagers getting pregnant without being prepared with a stable job.
The past history of teen pregnancies is pretty interesting. For instance, in 2014 the rate steadily dropped, but in 2015 the rate began to climb again. In today’s society it's not surprising that the rate has climbed because the peer pressure these days has definitely affected the rate of pregnancies. Back in the 90s, due to the pressure of fitting in, the teens then thought pregnancy would
Allowing teenagers to get contraceptives without parents’ permission encourages them to become sexually active. Teenagers do not become sexually active because they can get contraceptives. Young woman in the U.S. Have been sexually active for at least 22 months before they visit a family planning provider. 47 percent sexually active teenage girls said they would not get health services from clinics if they could not get contraceptives without parent’s permission. Teenage girls have the highest reported rates of chlamydia and other diseases. Close to 900,000 teenagers get pregnant each year. Four out of ten girls get pregnant at least once before they turn twenty. Teenage girls that do not use contraception has a 90 percent chance of getting pregnant within a year.
In recent years, the rate of teen pregnancies in America has increased dramatically. Approximately 750,000 teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 become pregnant every year, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Within this number, 82% of the pregnancies are unplanned. The psychological effects of these pregnancies can be severe.
Teen pregnancy is prevalent in America today, with approximately one million teenagers getting impregnated each year (Planned Parenthood-Helping Young). As of 1995, Texas had the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in America (Teen Pregnancy-State). Some teens are risking a pregnancy because of peer pressure. One 16-year-old virgin explains, "It's hard to abstain when it seems like everyone but you is having sex,"(Teen Pregnancy-Voices). Six out of 10 sexually active girls are having intercourse because their boyfriends want them to (Teen Pregnancy-Facts & Stats).
Teen pregnancy, it’s one of the growing problems in today’s society. Teens today have more problems than ever, and in many cases the parents mistake signs of the problems for mere puberty phase. Beginning problem, which often trigger the others, seem to be families. Deeply religious families are most often heavily strict, and that prevents the teenagers to be informed about real life and what are they getting into. When that kind of person gets in a situation where his or her peers are more experienced then them, the outcome is a pressure. During the puberty the teenagers, especially males, are having problems with controlling their needs. It is easy to get pregnant for today’s teenagers, because they face many
The teen pregnancy rate had decreased by the maximum of about 55 percent. Most teen birth rates had also gone down about 64 percent, but yet teen pregnancies and birth rate for teenagers ages 15-19 in the U.S still remains one of the highest comparable countries. Due to parenthood, most of teen moms drop out of school. More than 50% of teen mothers never graduate to get their diploma. Sexually active teens that don’t use any type of protection has a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within a year, 84 percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned.
In 2015 there was about 3,978,497 births registered of teen moms in the United states. Teen pregnancy has been a big issue for many years. A large number of teenagers are having unprotected sex that lead to unwanted pregnancy. This issue cause young girls to make a decision on the future of the baby, weather it is to be aborted, given up for adoption or keeping the baby and raising it. This unwanted pregnancy also takes effect on these teenager's social life, school and work.
Before examining solutions to the dilemma, the root must be studied. What causes teenagers to engage in sexual activity? Their environment, backgrounds, beliefs, or is another alternate element causing teens to make rash decisions? All these questions must be considered and answered. Luckily, many sources and studies had been inducted to help uncover the root. Teen Pregnancy Statistics (Reasons for Teen Pregnancies, 2009) performed a research and provided insight of explanations for youth’s sex lives. Some ricks factors listed are being a victim of sexual abuse, dating at a young age, peer pressure, lack of self-discipline, dropping out of school, living in poverty or rural communities, and using alcohol, drugs, or tobacco (Reasons for