Cause and Effect of Teenage Pregnancy

Causes and Effect of Teenage Pregnancy “Despite the fact that the teen birth rate is slowly falling, there are still an estimated one million teen pregnancies in the United States alone’ (Sams, Urquhart). A big issue in the United States is the percentages of teenage pregnancy rates. Being a teen is hard as it is, but having to raise a baby on top of that causes a bundle of responsibilities. Many factors lead up to this problem from the precautions not put in place. The outcome has not only the effect on the child but the family as well. Many schools have stepped in to take action to help this issue. Teenage pregnancy does not just happen; there are many issues that cause it to happen and the effects after have a big impact on the baby and the teen. First, without sex education about this topic teens will not know they need to take precautions. Many teens don’t have parents who are openly willing to talk to them about this and help them to prevent a pregnancy. So over the years, schools have jumped in by creating classes to help spread awareness and teach sex education. By teens knowing what needs to be done to ensure they are safe, they will be able to see that if they don’t prevent this will happen. In other words, being less knowledable is one of the many causes leading to teenage pregnancy. Next, the psychological factors like relationships can impact the cause of teenage pregnancy. Parents have a role in the attention they give their teens in the roles of their life to keep them on track to a good direction. If the emotional support is not there teenagers might be depressed and try to find love to fill their sadness. Peer pressure is also in this factor to that if “they’re not doing it then they aren’t coo”, causing many to just try to “fit in”. Also long term relationships are a cause to lessen the precautions the more comfortable the relationship gets. All in all, relationships do have a big factor in influencing the teen’s decision to even put them in the situation of becoming pregnant. One last cause is poverty or the inability to get precaution supplies, to give the teen prevention and keep them protected. Being poor tends to make buying birth control or condoms trickier for teens. Many prevention agencies have been opened to give everyone the ability to have access like free birth control and condoms. The inability part may also be the teens not asking their parents to take them for birth control going back to the relationship factor. Options are available to prevent every teen from teenage pregnancy. As you can see, a cause is getting the prevention but many options are in place to able teenagers to get protected. The result of teenage pregnancy also has other outcomes, not only on the teen but the baby as well. One is that being pregnant at an early age makes the mother more at risk to complications and medical issues (Pregnancy Info). The risk of miscarriages increases and also the premature birth risk. The baby would also be at higher risk of nurture to not grow properly in the teen mom. Birth defects like deafness and growth of the baby after birth can also happen as a result. “Teenage pregnancies have become a public health issue because of their observed negative effects on perinatal outcomes and long-term morbidity (Sams, Urquhart).” Overall, the health risks are great in many ways in both the mother and baby. Taking care of yourself is hard enough as a teen, getting all the things you want even with a minimum wage fast-food job. Adding a baby on top of that does not help. The likeliness of the baby growing up in poverty is an outcome. The teenage mom is less likely also to finish school and go to college to get a higher waged job (Hoffman). This makes the chain also having the child be in a harder situation to get out of poverty when they need to do so. As a result, poverty is more likely due from the teenage pregnancy on both the teenage parent and child. An additional effect of teenage pregnancy is the social part of it. Many teens are disapproved of by their friends and family. They become left with no support and feeling alone. People that might not even know them will judge the teen when even in public. Even the child gets judged by growing up with such young parents. Teen couples also become at more risk to a broken family from the social aspect of what each teen parent wants. Ultimately having an effect on the child who has no choice in getting the life they were given. To conclude, living a normal life is not known as an effect of the teenage pregnancy to just live without judgment. To wrap things up, becoming pregnant as a teen is caused by many factors that lead to many effects. Not only the teenage parent is affected but so is the baby caused by many factors that the baby had no control in. If the knowledge is given and teens are aware the likeliness of a teenage pregnancy should decrease. The babies are the main effected subject of the outcomes, but with support teenagers can make it through and teach others the importance of prevention. In summary, the rates of teenage pregnancy will continue to decrease as long as the causes and effects are known to prevent future teens to become in that situation.

Works Cited Page
Hoffman SD. Kids Having Kids: Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press; 2008.
Kirby D, Laris BA, Rolleri L. The Impact of Sex and HIV Education Programs in Schools and Communities on Sexual Behaviors Among Young Adults. Scotts Valley, CA: ETR Associates; 2006.
Sams, Peter, and Donald Urquhart. "Pregnancy." Teen Cause And Effect. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://www.streetdirectory.com/etoday/teen-pregnancy-cause and-effect-plojcu.html>.
What Are The Causes of Teenage Pregnancy?" Speedy Remedies. N.p., 01 Sept. 2010. Web. <http://www.speedyremedies.com/what-are-the-causes-of-teenage- pregnancy.html>.
"Pregnancy Info HOME." Pregnancy-Info.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://www.pregnancy-info.net/teen_pregnancy_statistics.html>.

Cited: Page Hoffman SD. Kids Having Kids: Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press; 2008. Kirby D, Laris BA, Rolleri L. The Impact of Sex and HIV Education Programs in Schools and Communities on Sexual Behaviors Among Young Adults. Scotts Valley, CA: ETR Associates; 2006. Sams, Peter, and Donald Urquhart. "Pregnancy." Teen Cause And Effect. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. &lt;http://www.streetdirectory.com/etoday/teen-pregnancy-cause and-effect-plojcu.html&gt;. What Are The Causes of Teenage Pregnancy?" Speedy Remedies. N.p., 01 Sept. 2010. Web. &lt;http://www.speedyremedies.com/what-are-the-causes-of-teenage- pregnancy.html&gt;. "Pregnancy Info HOME." Pregnancy-Info.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. &lt;http://www.pregnancy-info.net/teen_pregnancy_statistics.html&gt;.