Introduction
The problem of teenage pregnancy and childbirth is still actual all over the world. Today all over the globe more than 15 million teenagers give birth, and five more are forced to resort to pregnancy interruption. In this connection, there is a necessity of study and judgment of such phenomenon as teen pregnancy. The known fact, that at the overwhelming majority of teenagers, the physical development advances the mental and this difference makes 6, and in some cases 10 years.
As a result, some problems are marked by many researchers. They are connected with the occurrence of unplanned pregnancies, abortions at an early age, left children, suicide thoughts, and actions of the teenagers themselves. This paper analyzes the problem of teenage pregnancy as a consequence of causes, effects as an effective means to demonstrate the dimensions of such phenomenon.
Analysis
Possible causes for teen pregnancy can be listed as a junction of many factors. Based on Child Review the factors can be identified as early school failure, early behavior problems, family dysfunction, and poverty.
The connection of these factors with teen pregnancy can be described as “Female teenagers who experienced none of these risk factors had the lowest rate of pregnancy. The more risk factors faced by the teenager, the higher the likelihood of the teenager becoming pregnant and giving birth” (Cherry, Dillon, and Rugh 185)
It should be noted that within a single country these factors can reach larger influence within certain ethnic groups and nationalities as a result of higher prevailing socio-economic factors where the “researchers have sought to establish links between teen childbearing and socio-economic disadvantage” (Mckay).
The outcomes of this phenomenon have also been a subject of thorough study where they could be divided between social and medical effects. One of the outcomes of teen pregnancy could be considered the economic factor where “early marriage and early childbearing result in negative economic consequences” (Bissell 191). It should be noted that some factors as completion of school and income were linked with teen pregnancy in earlier studies, however, the fact that the studied groups were mostly experiencing these factors even before the pregnancy, and it was argued later in other works (Bissell 191)
When outlining the medical aspects of the outcomes of teen pregnancy, first of all, pregnancy creates an especially high risk for health, when they are younger (it is especially considerable for 13-16 years old).
In particular, children born by women of this age group have low weight at birth and almost twice more often die in infancy, than children of 20-30 years old women. Besides, teen pregnancy is accompanied by a higher frequency of clinical complications, including abortion, a toxicosis and bleedings, and also the raised level of mothers’ death rate in comparison with women at the age from 20 till 30 years. It also should be noted that these factors are mostly associated with the aforementioned social layer in which these medical outcomes are added to the difficulty of getting professional medical assistance.
Conclusion
Despite the decrease of the number of birth rates by adolescents since the nineties of the previous century the US still peaks these statistics among the well-developed countries. This is an indication that more efforts should be put on the educational aspect to prove especially for teenagers from low-income families that pregnancy is not a way to succeed in life if failed in school or a way to take the role of an adult, but it rather more than that as it is a long term decision that can affect the future life.
Works Cited
Bissell, Mary. “Socio-Economic Outcomes of Teen Pregnancy and Parenthood: A Review of the Literature.” The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality 9.3 (2000): 191.
Cherry, Andrew L., Mary E. Dillon, and Douglas Rugh, eds. Teenage Pregnancy: A Global View. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.
Farber, Naomi. Adolescent Pregnancy: Policy and Prevention Services. New York: Springer, 2003.
Mckay, Alexander. “Trends in Teen Pregnancy in Canada with Comparisons to U.S.A. and England/Wales.” The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality 15.3-4 (2006): 157+.
Ward, Pamela M.& G. Biggs. “Trends in Adolescent Pregnancies.” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 21.2 (2008): 88-92.
R. Jay Turner, Carl F. Grindstaff and Norman Phillips. “Social Support and Outcome in Teenage Pregnancy.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 21.1 (1990): 43-57.