Negative Effects Of Teenage Pregnancy

Teen pregnancy is defined as pregnancy among girls and young women age 19 years and younger. Teen pregnancy leads to adolescents raising children before they are emotionally or financially ready to do so. Although teen pregnancy rates have declined steadily in the past 20 years” statistics still show that two in five girls will become pregnant by the time they reach age 19”. Three in five girls will carry their baby to full term and four out of five of those pregnancies will be unintended. Teenage pregnancy has been an issue because there’s many different values and opinions people have about the issue. Teenage pregnancy can have many different negative impacts on teenagers lives and the child which causes this to be a social issue. Issues

The negative consequences of teen pregnancy and parenting have been well documented by public and private agencies, including the well-regarded Annie E. Casey Foundation. Advocates stress that teen pregnancy is a serious problem, because teen pregnancy is linked to many negative circumstances for both teen parents and their children. Around 40 percent of teen mothers receive their high school diplomas. Low academic achievement is both a cause and consequence of teen pregnancy. Estimates suggest that about one-half of all teen moms will receive welfare payments within five years of the birth of their first child. This percentage increases to three-quarters when only unmarried teen mothers are considered. Teenage childbearing places both the teen mother and her child at risk for low educational attainment. Women who grow up in poor families are more likely to have been the off spring of a teen pregnancy. The children of teen mothers are more likely to be living in poor neighborhoods where schools may be underfunded, are unsafe, or are of low quality, thus not preparing them for the

Almost every bad situation in society is blamed on teen pregnancies. Single parenting, poverty, delinquent children, school failure, drug abuse, child abuse, and crime have all pointed to teen pregnancy and birth as contributing factors. Teen pregnancy can contribute to a given young person’s chances of being poor, but it does not cause poverty. Many of these girls were living in poverty before getting pregnant. Sociologist Kristin Luker argues that adolescent girls are placed in the middle of a conflict between political factions that debate the issue of abstinence-only sex education compared with more comprehensive approaches. She argues that the phenomenon of teen pregnancy has been misidentified. she indicates that teen pregnancies do not occur only in the United States. The united states has the highest rates of pregnancy, abortion, and childbirth among teenagers in industrialized nations, a fact that results in considerable social anxiety and controversy. Luker also reminds us that the teen birth rate is not new; the mothers of the baby boom often began their child rearing in their late teens. One of the interesting co-issues of teen pregnancy is why teen mothers are treated so much worse than are teen fathers. The message to young women seems to be, “we are okay with you exploring your sexuality; just don’t get pregnant while doing so.” Given that it takes two to have a baby, but it takes a man to raise