The topic of teen pregnancy has been studied in a variety of areas, but much of the research focuses on the teen mother. The actions of teen’s attitude and decision to have unprotected sex or engaging in a sexually activity affects more than themselves, but the public as a whole. Teen’s action have financial consequences for the country as it increases the cost to care for teens based on their inability to be self-sufficient. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (NCPTP) (2005) reports that teenage pregnancy cost taxpayers $9.1 billion in 2004 alone. The cost included $1.9 billion in increased public sector health care costs, and $2.3 billion in increased child welfare costs.
Teen fatherhood literature proposes that teen’s father
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The article examines how the teen pregnancy has been around for several years in the African American community, and how it is important to remember it is not just a recent chain of events. The African American community has been dealt with teenage pregnancy for several years. In the article Green presents how teenage pregnancy is prevalent in every culture, and the differences in the values of teenage mothers in each culture. Green also explored how professionals have different assumptions to every situation, but is unable to pinpoint a particular reason. To reconsider these old assumptions, it allows for progress in the future for dealing with teenage pregnancy in the African American community. In the second article the author examines the perceptions of educational opportunities and the scientific literacy of the under-studied sub-population of teen fathers. Literature provides research to support that today’s society has changed their views of marriage, and sex without marriage is not a thing the past but the future. It has also been an educational loss from both the mother and father of teen …show more content…
Current literature explores African American teen father understanding of father from several angles, including teen parent, teen fatherhood, and African American fatherhood. Paschal and Moss were interested in exploring how this group defines and performs the father role. As stated before there is numerous amount of information literature on teen mothers, but based on research the teen father has been forgotten. Paschal and Moss explored three major themes including fatherhood, the provider, and nurturer. Based on past research it has been identified most teenage father was less likely to marry and more likely to cohabit. When explored factors Paschal and Moss found that interventions are truly needed in educating African American males on their role as a father. To come to this conclusion the authors used in depth interviews to get rich data on the experiences of African American teen fathers and their knowledge of their
"Teen Sexuality and Pregnancy." Growing Up: Issues Affecting America's Youth. Melissa J. Doak. 2007 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Information Plus Reference Series. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 24 Jan. 2011.
A father’s role in a child’s life is extremely important when it comes to a child’s development. With so much emphasis placed on young black boys needing their fathers during crucial developmental ages, the rate of our young black girls growing up without fathers is staggering and overlooked. What is an absent father? The definition is quite simple; an absent father can be defined as a father who is not present in the life of their child whether it is physically, emotionally, or both. Although the absence of a father is detrimental in any child’s life, the absence of such in a young black girl’s life is even more crucial. The absent father in a black girl’s life leads to, in some cases, promiscuity and teenage pregnancy, poverty, and emotional affects such as feelings of unworthiness and unable to be loved, fear of abandonment, and issues with rejection and commitment. The ways in which they view the opposite sex, the outside world and their self are forever tainted as a result of missing the key element of a father.
The District of Columbia is the 23rd most population city in the United States with a population of 658,893 (Census). According to UNICEF, teen pregnancy is defined as “A teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant” ((Link 1). Nationally in the United States, there has been a steady decline of teen pregnancy within the past decade. However, it is not occurring in the District of Columbia, specifically Southeast DC (Ward 7 and 8) which includes areas such as: Lincoln Heights, Twining, Anacostia and Woodland. As of 2011, DC was ranked number nine in the nation for the highest rate of teen pregnancy. For the total amount of births, only 908 were from young women who were below the age of 20 in Washington DC. About 879 were from young women that were around high school ages 15-19. Specifically, Southeast DC is a low-income area, with approximately ¼ of teen mothers going on welfare within three years after their child’s birth (Link 2). As of 2012, out of the 790 births from teenage mothers, more than half, or 457 of the births mainly occurred in the Southeast DC area (Link4). This area has been plagued through various social determinants of health. This includes having repeated cycles of poverty, lack of comprehensive sexual education, especially in regards to contraception and a lot of violence occurring as a result of crimes. Ward 7 has approximately 95% of its citizens being Black and 2.3% of their citizens are Hispanic(Link 5). While in Ward 8 have about 94% of their citizens that are Black and 1.8% are Hispanic. Between both wards, about 63% of households including both Blacks and Hispanics are living below the federal poverty line and about 37% of births from the 2010 census were from teenage mothers. Abo...
In the article, “Black Teenage Pregnancy Stereotypes…Or Are They”, presented by George Cotton, Sr. on www.cbcfinc.org. George Cotton, Sr. focuses on the issue of teen pregnancy in black women and how it has always been a topic that people seem to treat as if it’s something normal. The author also implicates how the parents and community needs to help the youth rather than bashing them.
Teen pregnancy is a problem that is prevalent in the United States as a whole and has become a problem, which African American contribute toin some of the highest numbers. African Americans in the United States have the second highest rate in teen pregnancy next to Hispanics. African American females are most affected by teen pregnancy because of statistics that seem to hold true that African American girls are most likely to have children as teens (Cotton 2005). My project’s purp...
Teen pregnancy is an ongoing problem in the United States for many decades. In 2014, 249,078 babies were born to women ages 15-19. This was a 9% drop from the year prior but the United States teen pregnancy rate is significantly higher than other western nations (CDC). While the rate for the country has dropped, not all states have had the same outcome. In 2011, ninety girls at Frasyer High School in Memphis, Tennessee became pregnant. A sixteen year old mother and student at Frayser said “It’s a shame that all these girls at Frayser are pregnant, but ain’t nothing new they need to a class where they teach girls before they get pregnant to use protection” (Sheen, 2014, p. 25). It is a shame that a sixteen-year-old girl looks as if teen pregnancy
Despite a noticeable decline in US teen pregnancy rates from 1991 to 2005 (from 60 out of 1000 teenagers in 1991 to 40.5 out of 1000 in 2005), more recent years-2006 and 2007-have seen an increase in these numbers. In addition, statistics show that roughly one-third of teens in the United States become pregnant, and more than 80% of these pregnancies are not intentional. More alarming facts indicate that almost 1 million teenage girls become pregnant every year in the United States, and among those teens who give birth, almos...
There are many obstacles for children of teenage mothers to face. These children have serious disadvantages in contrast to those children who come from nuclear families. Often they lack a father figure, have a high poverty rate, and there are incidents of depression and mental health problems. Many people are blaming the sex education programs in schools and the additional federal aid being offered to single parents as major causes for the country’s high rate of teen pregnancies (Carole). Although, the real purpose of sex education and federal aid is to help empower the mother and child so they can eventually lead productive lives.
Have you ever wondered why teenage pregnancy is one of the biggest issues in the nation or why so many teens are having babies before they reach eighteen? Could it be the lack of parenting that goes on in their household or Are they being influenced to have sex at a young age? Statistics say one out of four girls will most likely become pregnant before they reach twenty, and about one out of five teen mothers will have another child during their teenage years. “Although the teenage birth rate in Oklahoma has declined slightly, the state has the second-highest rate of births among fifteen-to-nineteen- year olds in the country, according to a report released Friday”(Muchmore). This essay will analyze teen pregnancy, its causes, consequences,
The problem with teenage pregnancy is it requires intervention from society. This debate is from the perspective of teens, and absent from the medical, ethical, and political views on teen pregnancy. According to Jewell, Tacchi, & Donovan, (2000), teen pregnancy is not a problem for teens themselves but more of a problem for society. The large numbers of unintended pregnancies are among unmarried teens.
The concept of comprehensive social intervention has been defined as the process of identifying social problems in an attempt to eradicate them. In looking at the broad range of social characteristics and the behavior associated with teen pregnancy, it is obvious that the emphases placed on the effort to recognize and alleviate teen pregnancy can be celebrated through the effectiveness of education, family planning, and abstinence. However, the attempt to analyze and deal with the cause-and-effect relationship with teen pregnancy is an attempt in understanding the social world itself. In 2006, statistics show that there was a significant increase in teen pregnancy after a decade long decrease. The potential for understanding this increase motivates us to look beyond simple explanations for cause-and-effect behavior and to look at what interactions may be occurring between variables that result in specific behaviors or social conditions. What is it that influences behavior? In looking at teen pregnancy in the realm of the family, it is evident that a large number of family structures have evolved, or perhaps devolved, into a variety of combinations which challenge responsible parents to consistently expose their children to the role models and the types of behaviors that are important for their children to emulate as they mature. People are molded by circumstances and experiences, all of which can positively or negatively influence our behavior.
The problem with teenage pregnancy presents itself at the home, where there is no relationship between the parent and the child. According to Bill Albert, Senior Director of the National Campaign to prevent Teen Pregnancy, “The quality of parents’ relationship with their teenager...
Although teenage pregnancy rate in USA have decreased recently, it remains a serious social issue with long-term effects. For example, a teenage mother could raise children alone and stay unmarried for decades, which is not suggested a complete and healthy family structure for child growing (Sedgh et al, 2015). Pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers are often have more problems in education and social relations than their peers, so that many of these schoolgirls have left schools and their friends. Teenage pregnancy also caused health problems to both mothers and babies, that have to be covered for much expense. Therefore, teenage pregnancy has effects in educational, economic, and medical aspects of the lives of teenage
Preventing teenage pregnancy has been a goal for many years now. Statistics have tried to keep up with the change in the teenage generation. Many people have different opinions on the subject of teen pregnancy, because to some people teens seem to be getting pregnant expeditiously in these times. People fail to realize that having a baby is a privilege to many people and not a problem. Many people take having a baby as a lightly. Getting pregnant and having a kid has many pros/cons. Having a child can be very hard on some people and cause them to break. When babies are brought into this world there are a lot of things to worry about. The greatest problem associated with teen pregnancy is financial instability. Most teens do not have the salary to support a child. In the prevention of teen pregnancy there are many things that are helpful. Abstinence is a for sure way of not getting pregnant. There are also other helpful ways to help prevent teen pregnancy, such as sex education and birth control. All of these things are essential in the helping to prevent teenage pregnancy.
Teen pregnancy was the topic I always wanted to do some research on and put my opinion on the topic. Even though, the teen pregnancy birth rates have declined since the 1990’s, it still remains a major problem throughout the United States and most of the countries all around the world. Teen pregnancy is a very crucial choice among the teens to make because it involves lives of more than two people. The babies are often seen to take punishments of their parents act. The babies are often kept in foster homes and they will never get the love and affection that a normal child will get from their parents. It is true that the child acts based upon the actions of their parents; therefore, these kids will continue to have babies when they will hit their teenage