Teen Pregnancy: A Growing Dilemma in Society - Research Paper

Introduction

Teen pregnancy is a major concern in today's society. These are pregnancies among the young girls between the ages of 13 to 19 years. This issue has become a prominent dilemma in the nation since it continues to place adolescents into delinquency. While these teenagers are supposed to be spending time with their friends and learning new things in school they find themselves raising a child. Although this may be a problem for many teenage parents, there are other people who do not pay attention because it does not concern them. Teen pregnancy comes with many challenges which not only affect the parents but also affect society. these include dropping out of school, increasing the level of poverty in the society, financial problems and health complications.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Teen pregnancy should be discouraged by putting a strain on the parents. Mothers of the pregnant teen will incur expenses to take care of their teen parenthood (Boonstra, 2002). They will also need to take care of the newborn if the mother decides to go back to school. Teen pregnancy will disrupt the daily arrangement for the whole family. For this reason, teen pregnancy should be eliminated by parents making sure that their teen has a proper understanding of early pregnancies. It is important for the parents to know that they play a large part in the child's life. The attention and consideration that you direct to the teen have a huge impact on the teen's life. The parent should have a good relationship with their children to ensure that they provide proper guidance and knowledge that a teen need to avoid teenage pregnancy. The parent should have a sex talk with a teen and teach how to have protective sex since most teenagers become parents because they did not have enough knowledge about sex. Some of them become pregnant while they are trying to learn about sex on their own. Studies have shown that many teen mother received very little knowledge about sexual education and they had no idea of how to use contraceptives before their first sexual encounter. Teenage pregnant should be eliminated by creating awareness on safe sex and the use of contraceptives.

Teen pregnant should be eliminated due to the impact on the rise of social responsibility. The rate of teen pregnancy has increased which create a burden to society. In today's economy, the prices of many products have increased which makes hard work to raise a baby especially if the parents have no income. The most of medication have also been raised because of population growth. If the teen pregnancies can be reduced, the funds used can be diverted into good use which can have a huge impact on costs (Boonstra, 2002). This would improve the quality of life and products. Teens should be advised to avoid teen pregnancy but staying in should and pursuing their career which will increase the growth of the society. Many people will have income with less mouth to feed which will make life better. The children will have proper nutrition since their parents are capable of providing and will have a good education and a better future.

Teen pregnancy increases poverty in the society. The main reason why teenage pregnancies should be abolished it raises the level of poverty. Since many teens drop out of school to raise the babies, they do not have the capability or a source of income which make their situation poor. This situation may affect even the new baby because the newborn will not get a better education since the parents are not employed in creating a chain of poverty. A proper parent should be able to provide for the baby without relying on other people support. The teen parents will lead a poor life if there is no Good Samaritan to help them. They will be looking for low-income jobs since they are not educated which will make them a pathetic life. In many countries having teen pregnancy costs are very high. It costs many taxpayers a lot of money which are used in healthcare and foster care. Teen pregnancy brings lost tax revenue since there is lower education attainment hence no income among the teen. Many of these teen mums are likely to end up in welfare and the cycle will possibly continue through the next generation. As a result, teen pregnancy can decrease the economy of a country.

Teen pregnancies have high risks of health-related infections. The teen body is not designed to carry a child until it reaches maturity. For this reason, teen mothers are usually prone to a high risk of mental problems because of stress and depression. Some even have physical injuries that occur during the time of delivery which can lead to death. The teen mother may experience anemia, sexually transmitted disease, and high blood pressure which are all high risk and dangerous diseases (Lindberg & Maddow-Zimet, 2012). Also, since the teen mothers are at a tender age they may experience many miscarriages during the pregnancy that makes teen pregnancy very dangerous and insecure. Even if the teen manages to get a baby, most of them are usually of low birth weights due to poor nutrition during the pregnancy and for being delivered prematurely. Teen mothers do not know how to take care of pregnancy and many of them put their babies at risk of having bone diseases like polio. For this reason, teen pregnancy should be discouraged to avoid these disease and deaths.

Teen pregnancy increases the rate of school dropouts. When the teen realizes that they are pregnant, they feel embarrassed to continue staying in school with their peers in the fear of rumors about their pregnancy. Most teens find out they are pregnant while in high school where there is a high rate of bullying, this makes them drop out in fear of being bullied by their mates. Some of them experience internet bullying when they become pregnant which makes them feel worthless and embarrassed making them drop out of school. In general, there are many reasons that make a pregnant teen drop of school which increases the number of dropouts. Girls are most affected since the life of the teen father is slightly changed by teen pregnancy (Allen, Philliber, Herrling, & Kuperminc, 1997). I think it is not a good picture of a young teen walking around the stores carrying a baby. This should a work of a grown woman who has experience on what to do with the toddler. Teens should remain in school and do not think about parenthood.

Teen pregnancy causes a high level of abortion. When a teen gets pregnant the first thing that comes to mind is to get rid of the pregnancy especially if the teen has no support from the family and friends. Teen pregnancy makes the girl afraid if she will get the support from the boyfriend or if she will be able to give birth. She also wonders if she will make a good mother to the unborn and all kind of thoughts and brings doubt in her mind making her use abortion as the only option (Lindberg & Maddow-Zimet, 2012). The teen mother goes through with abortion as a way of getting rid of all those problems and fears. Since many teens do not inform the parent for better advice they end up turning to abortion which increases the rate of abortion in the country.

Teen mother misses out in many activities. Teenage mothers will not be able to continue with normal childhood activities like planning for parties since all their time will be focused on the new-born. In most cases, the teen other will no longer have the time or her own to spend as a teenager. She will have less freedom since most time is the young mother's time. Teen mother will also miss out in education where she will have less time to study no wonder many teen mums fail their exams. If she cannot pass the exams she will have no hopes of getting a better job and she will have to wait until the baby is old enough to continue with the studies. With the schedule as a mum, she will miss out in many things because she will always have a kid to consider before making any decision. In many cases, the child up to be brought up by one parent since the teen fathers is always run away from responsibilities. In turn, the child grows up without a father in a family and many results of a single parent in poor upbringing. The teen mom is left alone to cater to the kid's need which brings finance problems. There are statistics that show that children brought up by teem parent ends up in crime and in poverty.

Although the issue of teen pregnancy is perceived as a problem in society, having a baby a teenage help the parent understand the baby better. The teen parents are able to raise the baby as well as understanding him/her better than the adult parent. This is because the teen mother and the baby are born in almost the same generation where they have experienced the same things as technology (Kirby,2001). The mother will be able to explain certain things to the child since they are both in a time where things have not dramatically changed. This makes the parent and the child grow up together as they experience new things together. Most of these parents get along with their children better than older parents. The parents under twenty have also had a lot of potential meaning they have all their life ahead of them. The parents can shape their lives as they wish after getting the baby which will make them more consistent and focused.

Teen health is better than for an older person. Having a baby as a teenager is better since your health is likely to be better than when you get older. The younger body heals faster and in case of a complication during birth the body will heal faster compared to that of an adult. Teenage mothers also get back in shape faster than an adult that why it is advisable to give birth when younger to avoid many health complications and to snap back quickly. Having a baby when younger also gives the parents time to focus on herself because when the child is grown up you will probably be in your 30s focusing on other important things like a career. You will be able to raise the child and hopefully build yourself for a better life. In case of any mistake done during the pregnancy, the parent has time to correct for the next time. Some teen parents also manage to go back to school and pursue their desired career while they have already raised their kid.

Conclusion

In conclusion, all parents will agree that there is a perfect time to start a family but teenager parents face additional challenges in their life. These are emotional stress, discontinuing education, financial problems, and immaturity. Its impacts directly affect the mother, the baby, and public society. The social results of a teen mother are more wanting since the make the teen to miss out in many life experiences like education. Due to early pregnancy, the parent has a negligible chance of safeguarding a decent job which leads to poor lifestyle and deteriorating health. Therefore, it is important to educate teens on better approaches to birth control and safe sex by making sure that the parents or teachers give sexuality education to teens. This will decrease the number of teen pregnancies and its impacts.

References

Allen, J. P., Philliber, S., Herrling, S., & Kuperminc, G. P. (1997). Preventing teen pregnancy and academic failure: Experimental evaluation of a developmentally based approach. Child Development, 68(4), 729-742.

Boonstra, H. (2002). Teen pregnancy: Trends and lessons learned. New York: Alan Guttmacher Institute.

Kirby, D. (2001). Emerging answers: Research findings on programs to reduce teen pregnancy (summary). American Journal of Health Education, 32(6), 348-355.

Lindberg, L. D., & Maddow-Zimet, I. (2012). Consequences of sex education on teen and young adult sexual behaviors and outcomes. Journal of Adolescent Health, 51(4), 332-338.