Lower Rates Of Adolescent Births example essay topic

Adolescent pregnancy has long been a societal concern, but in the past decade, this issue has become one of the most frequently cited examples of the perceived societal decay in the United States (U.S. House of Representatives, 1996). In 1990, 1,040,000 adolescents under the age of 20 became pregnant, approximately 530,000 (51%) of whom gave birth (Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1994). Ironically, the rate of births to teenagers is much lower now than it has been throughout much of the 20th century. Between 1960 and 1985, the rate of births to female adolescents declined substantially, falling from 89.1 births per 1,000 teenagers ages 15-19 in 1960 to 51.0 in 1985. In the late 1980's, the rate increased to a recent high of 62.1 in 1991 but then declined again in the 1990's to 56.8 births per 1,000 15-19-year-olds in 1995 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1995; Ventura, Martin, Curtin, & Mathews, 1997). Most of the births to teenagers are concentrated in the later years of adolescence: Rates for 18-19-year-olds are more than double those for 15 - 17-year olds.

The rates for those under 15 years of age are too low to provide detailed statistics in most reports (1.3 per 1,000 10 - 14-year-olds in 1995; Rosenberg, Ventura, Maurer, He user, & Freedman, 1996; Ventura et al., 1997). There are also large differences among female adolescents of different racial and ethnic groups. Whites 1 have considerably lower rates of adolescent births (39.3 per 1,000 15-19-year-olds in 1995) than Hispanics 2 (106.7) or African Americans (99.3; Ventura et al., 1997). Whereas childbearing rates in White and African American adolescents have shown substantial declines, rates for Hispanic adolescents have risen steadily in the past 15 years. Although Latina adolescents have lower rates of early sexual experience, they are less likely to use birth control and, once pregnant, are less likely to abort than are White or African American adolescents (Perez & Du any, 1992).

Although adolescent birthrates in the United States have declined in recent decades, they remain in stark contrast to those in other industrialized nations. Even though American teenagers do not exhibit significantly different patterns of sexual activity as compared with adolescents in many industrialized countries, they use contraception less consistently and effectively; thus, birthrates are much higher in the United States than they are elsewhere. In fact, at the beginning of this decade, the rate of teenage births was almost twice as high in the United States as in the country with the next highest rate, Great Britain; more than 4 times greater than those of Sweden and Spain; 7 times greater than those of Denmark and the Netherlands; and 15 times greater than that of Japan (United Nations, 1991). Although some researchers argue that ethnic diversity is largely responsible for these differences, the birthrate of White adolescents in the United States still easily surpasses that of adolescents in every other industrialized nation (United Nations, 1991).

Despite being to young, teens have yet to develop good parenting skills, or are involved in social support systems to help them deal with the stress and trauma of raising an infant. The infants of these teens usually have lower birth weights, are more likely to perform poorly in school and are at greater risk of abuse and neglect. The sons of teen mothers are 13% more likely to end up in prison while daughters of teens are 22% more likely to become teen mothers themselves. Two out of three pregnant teens are likely to drop out of school and their income is half that of women who first gave birth in there 20's.

The teenage mother is more likely to be undernourished and suffer through a prolonged labor. During the first trimester, 7 out of 10 teens do not see a doctor. Drugs, alcohol, smoking and poor eating habits can increase the risk of having a baby with serious health problems. The death rate of infants born to teen mothers under 15 is higher than among older mothers. Low-birthweight babies are 40 times more likely to die in their first month of life than normal-weight babies. Being born to young teens, babies are usually under weight and suffer from the following: immature organ system, difficulty controlling body temperature and blood sugar, mental retardation, risk of dying in early infancy.

Pregnant teens are least likely of all maternal age groups to get early and regular prenatal care. If you really think that you must have sex, make sure you look at all that could happen. Sex, Most of all can cause sexually transmitted diseases, STD's, and Pregnancy. Both of these are very serious things, and once you have them, you can't just get rid of them, it is something that you will have to live with for the rest of your life. If you do decide that you want to have sex, make sure that you protect yourself and your partner. A sexually active teenager who doesn't use contraception has a 90% chance of pregnancy with in one year.

There are many forms of birth control that you could use: condoms, the pill, they have a couple different shots that you could use, the sponge, female condom, spermicides, and most important is abstinent's. 9 in 10 sexually active women and their partners use a contraceptive method, although not always consistently or correctly. Also, about 1 in 6 teenage women are practicing contraception combine two methods, primarily the condom with another method. Nearly 4 in 10 teen pregnancies end in abortion.

Abortion rates among sexually experienced teens have declined steadily, because fewer teens are becoming pregnant. The reasons most often given by teens for choosing to have an abortion are concerned about how having a baby would change their lives, feeling that they are not mature enough to have a child and having financial problems. 29 states currently have mandatory parental involvement laws in effect for a minor seeking an abortion. There are too many teens having sex and becoming pregnant, how can we stop this, when should we talk to them.

You may be thinking, my son or daughter isn't having sex, they can't get pregnant, but even if you don't want to believe it, they are. So how can you prevent this, or at least make sure that they are protected, here's some tips. Talk to you child, before they make you a grandparent. One out of every 3 girls has had sex by the age of 16 and 1 out of 2 girls by the age of 18. Many pregnancies occur from lack of communication between the girl and the parents. If you talk to you child, they will listen to what you have to say.

No, not all things will sink in but enough will, so at least they will protect themselves if they do decide to have sex. Also, by talking to you child you show them that you do care and then they will respect themselves more and less more girls will be having babies.