Teenage Pregnancies are considered to be an epidemic in the United States. In fact the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That’s nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year. 8 in 10 of teen pregnancies are unintended. There are many theories on the causes of teen pregnancy, but one you don’t hear very often is the impact of child abuse on teenage pregnancy. Can child maltreatment cause a negative consequence like teenage pregnancy? Well, several clinical and behavior reports and research studies, have explored this question to find a link between the two.
The first study will take a look at the association between adverse childhood experiences and adolescent pregnancy. By examining if teen pregnancy increased as adverse childhood experiences increased. The second sought out if child abuse predicts adolescent pregnancy by measuring four areas of child abuse in association with when the subjects first experienced consensual intercourse. Lastly, the third aimed to discover the link between childhood maltreatment and teenage pregnancy by interviewing a representative sample of 249 teenage women in an urban setting of Rochester New York.
All of these three studies research found significant evidence showing the correlation between child abuse and the likelihood of teen pregnancy. Their conclusions found that some areas of abuse, such as sexual, had a higher result in adolescent pregnancy than other forms of abuse. There were more teenage pregnancies in adolescents that experienced abuse at a young age, then those who did not experience abuse.
The first study was among adult enrollees over 18 years of age with a mea...
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...een. The study would be done through a teen pregnancy center or an adoption agency.
There also didn’t seem to be any studies involving males. It made sense since an issue like this mostly focuses on women, but was still strange nonetheless because men are also involved in the process. It would be neat to see the study from a men’s angle because what if they do have some kind of weight in the matter? After all, women are not the only sex to experience adolescent abuse. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime self-report studies show that 5-10% of adult males recall a childhood sexual abuse assault or childhood sexual abuse incident. Which raises the question what relationship to child abuse and pregnancy do men have? Bringing males into the picture could open a whole other door to the root of the issue of child abuse and adolescent pregnancy.
... is the direct effect of teens and young adults not being educated on the things that come with sex and the consequences of their actions. Teens need sex education because the knowledge will give them an insight on the subject and help them think about the proper precautions to take in order to be a responsible person insuring that they use the right contraception and/or abstinence in order for them not to have children as a teen. Other factors play into why teens become pregnant as well. In the results for my interviews, parent/child relationships should be established and upheld as a relationship that is strictly parent and child. Teens who do not have a true parent/parents in their lives to care about the important thing that contribute to the child’s well being such a becoming pregnant at a young age, tend to make decisions that are not healthy in their lives.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACE) conducted by Felitti et al. (1998) proposed that children who experienced maltreatment and neglect along with dysfunctional family systems were at higher risk for developing physiological and psychological problems later in life. The ACE studies demonstrated the collective effects of negative childhood experiences on physical and mental health issues. These disorders include; substance abuse, suicidal ideality, and depression, as well as a host of medical problems (Putnam, Harris & Putnam, 2013). In addition, the study indicated that exposure to two or more adverse childhood experiences is linked to higher rates of smoking, promiscuity, substance abuse, and eating disorders (Anda et al., 2006).
Teenagers who become mothers have harsh prospects for the future. Teenagers obtaining abortions are 20% and girls under 15 accounts for 1.2%. They are much more likely to leave of school; receive insufficient prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or en...
Family risk factors are those factors associated with the child’s family. They include common conflict and physical violence in the family, history of child sexual abuse in the family, poor child adults relationship especially those of the opposite sex and supportive family environment to such abuse. Community factors include poor neighborhoods, lack of support from the legal system, community tolerance towards sexual violence and high levels of crime in the neighborhood (Finkelhor et al,
The female teen stares into the eyes of her newborn son, not realizing the type of life her and her son will have in the near future. Katrina L. Burchett excellently explicates teenage pregnancy among female adolescents living with domestic problems in her book titled Choices. The various elements that aid to the wide range of teenage pregnancies in the world should all be taken in to consideration. Getting pregnant at an adult is no longer substantial or conventional in our society. Everyday, female young adults are getting pregnant, which is why it is a social issue for the youth today.
Furthermore, there are major health issues surrounding teenage pregnancy. For one, teen mothers are two to six times more likely to have low birth-weight babies, compared to mothers above twenty years of age. This is because teen mothers are often still growing themselves, and physically cannot let the baby grow and develop. Such low birth-weights lead to higher risks of new-born health problems, undevelo...
It has been said that teens across the world have not been receiving enough sex education. This has led to many issues with teens becoming pregnant, which most of the time is unanticipated. Teenage pregnancy has been a social problem throughout the world for a number of decades now. Many studies have been completed in several countries that pertain to the amount of teens and the types of teens who are becoming pregnant. Rates among teens had been declining for some time, but are starting to take a turn and increase. This is still a significant social problem, though some people do not perceive it like it is.
In America, one million teenagers get pregnant every year (National Abortion Federation, 2003). Of these pregnancies, 78% are unplanned because these teenagers start having sex at a very young age and are unaware of ways to prevent pregnancies. Thirty-five percent of the pregnant teenagers chose to abort, as they fear that the consequences of the pregnancy might have significant effects on their lives. The problems that come with teenage pregnancies include dropping out of school, receiving inadequate prenatal care, developing health problems, relying on public assistance to raise a child, and probably divorcing their partners. In most states, the law allows pregnant teenagers to take their babies for adoption without consulting their parents.
There are many different attributes to teenage pregnancy. The majority of teenagers do not realize the consequences of their actions. Taking that into consideration the influences of the teens are highly important during the pre teen stage all the way to adult hood. During the time of this impressionable stage many of the teens are having sex not because of love, but because it is a trend. The media is glamorizing teen pregnancy and leading to a cultural shift.
humans act towards things on the basis of meanings that the things have for them
The headlines proclaimed the controversial news: race, poverty, and single-parents were NOT the irrevocable harbingers of drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and violence. Instead, researchers were claiming that behaviors that parents and teens could influence -- such as problems at school and the amount of time spent "hanging out with friends" and the type of friends they chose -- could predict trouble.
More than Poverty: The Effect of Child Abuse & Neglect on Teen Pregnancy Risk 5
Approximately one million teens get pregnant and give birth every year in the United States. Eighty percent of those births are to unmarried teens (ProQuest). There are serious consequences for teen pregnancy for the child as well as for the mother. The opportunity to a bright future dwindles down with such a high responsibility; a child. Many teens who end up pregnant do not finish high school and are less likely even consider going to college. Another effect of teen pregnancy is that both mother and child become apt to health issues. Infants are more likely to suffer from low birth weight and other health problems. Most teens do not have health insurance therefore it becomes harder to provide adequate healthcare for themselves and their babies. Not only are children of teen parents more likely to be unhealthy physically but sometimes emotionally as well. A teen cannot provide the fostering environment that a baby needs to develop. Although teen pregnancy rates declined throughout the 1990s, a 3 percent jump in births to teen mothers between 2005 and 2006 raised alarm that sex education programs and campaigns to reduce teen motherhood were failing (ProQuest). Various methods of contraceptives and the righteous yet difficult choice of abstinence are among possible solutions Preventing teen pregnancy is an issue in the United States of utmost importance and society as a whole must convince teens in a more innovative , extreme way and they must push forward now.
Swann, C., Bowe, K., McCormick, G., Kosmin, M. (2003) Teenage pregnancy and parenthood: a review of reviews. London: HAD.
Today in this society many teenagers are having sex and not realizing what could happened after they have done it. Parents and teachers aren’t teaching their children proper information about sex. Teenagers believe nothing can happen and that sex isn’t a probable cause. Unfortunately, there are many risks that come along with teen pregnancy many of those include a life surrounded by poverty, medical and health issues, less schooling along with more dropout rates, and lower career ambitions. Teen pregnancy has many causes such as no access to protection, wanting to tie down a guy, Missing love or attention from parents, peer pressure mixed with "trends”, and sadly teenagers most common, lack of knowledge.