Teen Pregnancy

A Look at Teen Pregnancy
Introduction
Teen pregnancy is a global issue that affects girls (ages 13-19) in every culture and nation around the world. 33% of American teenage girls will become pregnant before they reach their 20s, which equates to approximately 745,000 teen pregnancies each year. Because these teens are not considered to be adults, they bring a certain amount of stress and burden to society whenever they become pregnant. Pregnancy centers, help centers, and government subsidies go into addressing the issue, which means the socio-economic cost of teen pregnancy is quite high (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007). Why does the problem continue to exist? There are numerous theories for why teen pregnancy has reached epidemic proportions. Some suggest it is cultural and point to Latino culture as a reason Latinas are at such high risk for teen pregnancy (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007). Others point to father absence (Ellis et al., 2003), sexual abuse in childhood (Boyer & Fine, 1992), and promiscuity and race as factors (Vundule, Maforah, Jewkes & Jordan, 2001). This paper will provide an overview of the topic, provide a brief literature review on the risk and possible protective factors for preventing teen pregnancy, and describe a proposal for a creative intervention that will help prevent teen pregnancy in the future.
Overview
Teen pregnancy is a major issue because it is so widespread, and because teen girls who become pregnant are more likely than adult women to suffer from a lack of prenatal care and pregnancy complications (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007). Many teens who become young mothers never complete their education and it is much harder for them to obtain a college degree, which means it is also harder for them to obtain a high-paying job in the labor market (Vundule et al., 2001). For the children of teen mothers, it is just as bad: they are more likely to suffer from childhood neglect or abuse because their parents are basically still adolescents and do not know how to act like mature adults and care for a baby when they are still essentially children themselves (Boyer & Fine, 1992). Teen mothers are also to suffer from emotional and mental stress, just as their children are more likely to face cognitive and developmental risks because of the unstable nature of their situation when they are born into the world: their family is likely to suffer from intense socio-economic pressures as the single mother attempts to make ends meet while simultaneously raising a child on her own (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007).
Risk Factors
There are several risk factors for teen mothers. Both large households and single parent families have been found to be risk factors by researchers (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007; Vundule et al., 2001). The absence of the father in the girl’s life growing up is another major risk factor, as the father is believed to provide a stabilizing influence in a girl’s life and to give her an idea of what sort of qualities to look for in a potential mate (Vundule et al., 2001). Of course it is not a guarantee that just because the father is part of the family life of a girl as she grows that the girl will not be another teen pregnancy statistic, but not having a father in the picture is certainly a risk factor and a variable that is consistently found among cases of teen pregnancy in the U.S. (Ellis et al., 2003).
Another risk factor is being a foster child or adopted child. A girl who is removed from her biological parents are placed in foster care runs a higher risk of teen pregnancy than a girl who is raise by her biological parents (Vundule et al., 2001). Part of the reason for this is that when biological parents are absent or removed from care it is an indication of an unstable environment and children need stability growing up in order to navigate all the developmental conflicts and issues that naturally arise over the years. Without a family there to help guide them and support them, girls can feel adrift and thus turn to the first young man who shows them any kind of affection, even if it is sexual in nature and of a manner that the girl is not yet mature enough to handle.
Girls who are the daughters of teen mothers themselves are more at risk of becoming teen mothers too (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007). This is because the girls are more likely to repeat their parent’s mistakes as history does tend to repeat itself. Unless the parent makes an effort to raise the daughter in a different manner, it is likely that same behaviors will repeat themselves. Other risk factors include low self-esteem (Boyer & Fine, 1992) and low quality parent-child relationships where there is little to no communication (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007).
Protective Factors
Protective factors include higher levels of parental education, especially for the mother (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007; Vundule et al., 2001). When the mother is more educated she is more likely to emphasize the importance of education to the child. She knows from first-hand experience how important it is to focus on academics, get a degree, and obtain a job. This is linked to the concept of parental discipline: when discipline is instilled in the family and especially by the father, who is present, the daughters are more likely to live according to higher standards and not engage in risky sexual behavior as teenagers (Ellis et al., 2003). Another protective factor identified by Vundule et al. (2001) is the presence of a medical person in the girl’s life: the doctor is more likely to educate the girl about the use of contraceptives if the girl is sexually active. Good relationships with excellent communication between parents and children are also positive protective factors as the child is less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior if there is a strong support system that the child can go to with questions and doubts before engaging in any such behavior (Do?an-Ate? & Carrión-Basham, 2007). Do?an-Ate? and Carrión-Basham (2007) also identify strong religious beliefs and church attendance as protective factors, for if the girl has a strong moral conviction she is less likely to engage in premarital sex as most churches view this as immoral behavior and do not condone it.
Proposal for Intervention
A complete intervention should really consist of a four distinct programs that unite to develop the overall person in a holistic manner. The proposed intervention for this problem is to 1) engage in character development, 2) provide education on strengthening relationships, 3) raise awareness about risky behavior, and 4) conduct a workshop on strengthening parent-child bonds. Through the combination of these four programs, a high quality intervention can be delivered that will reduce the risk of teen pregnancy.
Character Development
The first program is a youth based summer camp program that focuses on building the girl’s character. The program will work on increasing the confidence levels of the girls. Weekly themes will explore topics that are likely to be important to teenage girls. Emphasis will be on developing leadership skills, improving self-esteem and how to make good decisions.
Relationship Seminars
The intervention will also include relationship seminars, which will be a community-based program designed to show teenage girls how to build strong relationships within their communities. Since strong support systems can help to keep girls from making bad life decisions, this seminar will focus on how to develop those relationships and make them valuable. They will be a series of monthly seminars that concentrate on strengthening marriages and relationships, how to communicate effectively so as to avoid breakdowns, how to manage finances and how to plan a family. The seminars will give special attention to keeping marriages strong, because strong marriages help to create strong girls who will follow in their parents’ footsteps instead of ending up unmarried and pregnant by the time they are 19.
Risky Behaviors Course
This program will focus on middle and high schoolers and will be a lecture style program with interactive components so that the students can participate in active learning. The lectures will be given by trained personnel and the discussions will focus on types of risky adolescent behavior, including premarital sex, drug use, alcohol consumption and the dangers of these substances. It will offer alternative options for adolescents who are faced with these risks so that they can avoid them in a positive manner.
Quality Bonds Workshop
This program will focus on strengthening the bonds between parents and their daughters. This will be one of the most important programs in the intervention because the parent-daughter relationship is crucial to the upbringing of a young girl. It will be an intensive two-day workshop for both parents and daughters. Therapy sessions will be provided individually and in groups. The program will emphasize the need to resolve conflicts and enhance communication skills. Activities will be conducted that promote interaction between parents and teens so that they can learn to spend quality time with one another and how important it is to enjoy one another’s company.
Conclusion
The problem of teen pregnancy is one that has to be addressed as it has literally reached epidemic proportions not just in the U.S. but throughout the whole world. The best way to address this issue is to understand the causes of it—i.e., the potential risk factors that likely contribute to teen pregnancy. These factors include absent fathers, lack of quality bonds between parents and children, and having a mother who was herself a pregnant teen. The protective factors that researchers have identified include strong communication between parents and daughters, fathers who play an active role in the family, strong sense of discipline among the family, a clear emphasis on the importance and value of education, and religiosity and church going. The intervention that this paper proposes is a four-stage intervention consisting of four different programs designed to address the risk factors and promote protective factors. The first program is a character development summer camp that is designed to boost the confidence of teen girls. The second is a relationship seminar designed to teach parents the importance of staying together and working through their issues. The third seminar focuses on raising awareness among teens about risky behavior, and the fourth promotes improving the bond between parents and daughters.
References
Boyer, D., & Fine, D. (1992). Sexual abuse as a factor in adolescent pregnancy and child maltreatment. Family planning perspectives, 4-19.
Do?an-Ate?, A., & Carrión-Basham, C. Y. (2007). Teenage pregnancy among Latinas: Examining risk and protective factors. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 29(4), 554-569.
Ellis, B. J., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., Fergusson, D. M., John Horwood, L., Pettit, G. S., & Woodward, L. (2003). Does father absence place daughters at special risk for early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy?. Child development, 74(3), 801-821.
Vundule, C., Maforah, F., Jewkes, R., & Jordaan, E. (2001). Risk factors for teenage pregnancy among sexually active black adolescents in Cape Town. South African Medical Journal, 91(1), 73-80.