Teenage Pregnancy

Acknowledgment
The successful completion of this study would not have been possible without the assistance and cooperation of a number people. Consequently, I would like to thank the residence of Rae Town Community in Central Kingston for their huge support and valuable time spent on answering the questionnaire given. Members of my family and friends have been a constant source of encouragement and motivation. I thank my parents for applying pressure on me to complete this task and bygiving me the financial assistance that was needed .

Introduction

There are many studies that investigate the causes and effects of Teenage Pregnancy . I have conducted a research in which parents or guardian and also the people of my community can be aware of the causes of Teenage Pregnancy . The Rae town community is a small environment .I live in this community for 17 years now ;during these years I have seen that teenagers are getting pregnant at a early age and getting kick out of school. So I decide to go ahead and do a investigation on this specific topic.In this project the reader will learn more about teenage pregnancy and how it affect the life of the residents in the Rae Town community.

Statement of Problem

What are the causes of teenage pregnancy, and how it affects the teens when they become pregnant?

Reason for area of Research
The reason why I selected this specific topic because i realize that teenagers in this community most of them don’t use contraception. There are many factors maybe they aren’t educate on sex,or maybe they are afraid,or maybe they are so self absorbed they don’t think they will get pregnant.

Method Of Investigation
In order to collect data from the survey, I have decided to use a printed questionnaire.

The questionnaire as a tool for collecting data has a number of advantages

* It requires little time to be completed.

* It can be done at the convenience of the persons required to have it completed.

* It guarantees confidentially since respondents are not required attach their names.

Procedures Use to Collect Data
In the Rae Town community there are approximately 50 household on the scheme. A total of 25 questionnaires were prepared for distributed to the households in the scheme.
However I have decided to distribute the questionnaire in the order of wish I issued a copy to every other household.
The 25 household that were selected, and then they were supplied with questionnaire. Then all questionnaire issued out were collected.

Data Collection Instrument
The survey of teenage pregnancy in the Rae town Community.

Dear citizens,

This is a survey being carried out in the Rae Town community to find out the causes of teenagers pregnancy and what action can be done to correct this problem.
In some case the teenagers in this community go through some hard time with their partner because in some circumstances their partner didn’t their through their pregnancy never help like providing transportation to the prenatal clinic and never wanted to own the child for some specific reason so they decide not to own the child. This study is being conducted as an assignment for social studies course.
This present pursuing. You are advise to answer the following question honestly and truthfully . Thank you.
Your truly,
Nicola

Questionnaire
Answer the following questions honestly.

1. To what age group do you belong?
16- 20 [ ] 21- 25 [ ]
26-30 [ ] 31-35 [ ] 36 and older [ ]

2. Who influence you to get pregnant?
Friends [ ]
Boyfriend [ ]
Mother/father [ ]

3. What age do you get pregnant?
13-15 [ ]
16-19 [ ]

4. How likely is it that you will continue your education, after your baby is born?
Very likely [ ]
Unlikely [ ]
Unsure [ ]

5. How much time do you get pregnant?
1 times [ ]
2 times [ ]
3 times [ ]

6. What problem do you face when you get pregnant?
Got thrown out by parents [ ]
Stay at friend’s home [ ]
Abortion [ ]

7. Do You think abortion is a sin ?
Agree [ ]
Disagree [ ]

8. How often do you talk to your mother,father or other adults on your problem?
Some of the time [ ]
Always [ ]
Never [ ]
Almost never [ ]

9. What do you think is the main cause of teenage pregnancy in the community of Parade Garden?
Peer pressure [ ] Poor parental guidance [ ] Negative influence of the media [ ] Poor self-esteem [ ]

10. How teenage pregnancy affected your wellbeing in the community of Parade Garden?
Became unemployed [ ] Poverty [ ] Developed low self- esteem [ ] High dependency on member of the family [ ]
11 . To which household do you belong Single [ ] Nuclear [ ] Extended [ ] Siblings [ ]

12 . How old were you when you first had sex ? 15-19 [ ] 19-25 [ ] 25-30 [ ] 40 and more [ ]

13 . What in your opinion is the reason for teens getting pregnant ? Neglect [ ] Birth Control Errors [ ] Poor Communication [ ] Other [ ]

Presentation of Data

Figure 1: What ethnic group is teenage pregnancy most commonly taking place?

Fig 1: Pie chart showing the percentage of pregnant teenagers and their ethnic group.The pie chart shows that the African descent has the most teenage pregnancy with 80%, while teenagers of Indian descent had a 10%, while both Chinese and other descents had 5% each.

Figure 2: The age group that teenagers often gets pregnant.

Fig 2: Bar chart showing the number of persons who were or presently teenage mothers.The bar graph shows sixteen persons were or presently pregnant as teenagers, while fourteen was not pregnant in their teenage years.

Figure 3: Among which gender teenage pregnancy commonly accepted?

Fig 3: Bar graph showing both gender and their accepting of Teenage pregnancy. The bar graph shows that eighteen persons accept teenage pregnancy where by twelve persons oppose to that.

Figure 4: What are the main causes of teenage pregnancy?

Fig 4: Graph showing the main causes of teenage pregnancy in my community.‘Poor parental guidance’ which is the main cause with 47%, followed by ‘Low in self-esteem and morale’ which got 33%, while both ‘Lack of sex education’ and other had 13% and 7% respectively.

Analysis and Interpretation of Data
The data analyzed revealed some facts about teenage pregnancy in my community. One of these facts are that in 30% teenage mothers ,24% are of African descent while 4% are of Indian descent and Chinese and other descents got one each. This also shows that also in my community persons of African descent are usually are on the poor side of living and that most African descent parents are single parents, teenagers maybe short of a next parent figure in their life to guide, teach, and give them a strong morale boost, because of the lack of funds and resources.
Another finding is that teenage mothers are usually on their own due to the absence of the father. This is a huge problem because the mother would find it hard to support, teach and all the things that parents would do for their child, because of this the mother cant accomplish all the objectives which are due to parents. So the child will become low in self-esteem and morale because of the absence of the father figure in their life, so the child can also be lead by criminal gangs and peer preasure.
Another finding is that some teenagers lack sex eduction. Due to the fact that teenagers lack sex eduaction they get pregnant . Parents should have deep one –on-one conversation with their teen to educate, explain consequences that could be faced if she got pregnant. Most teenagers gets pregnant because of the lack of communication between parents and child. Also children should learn about sex eduction as early as primary school to ensure that sex eduction is established and reinforced in the children.

Findings
The survey has revealed some of the main causes of teenage pregnancy in my community of Parade Garden : 1. Teenagers who participate in sexual activities do not use contraceptives, because of a lack of education about the importance of it, as seen in figure five, where eleven of the respondents said that they were educated, while four said they weren’t. 2. Parents do not spend enough time with their teens causing demoralization which causes irresponsible behaviour by getting pregnant, which is seen in figure four. 3. Teenagers who are of poor economic background tends to get pregnant because of the lure things that men bring forward to entice them by having sexual intercourse.

Recommendations and implementation strategy
Having made a certain conclusion from the study, I know offer some recommendations which should assist in solving some of the problems.
The lack of abstinence and early indulgence in sexual behaviour is a serious problem, which may be solved by the teaching of sex education as early as possible. The researcher would recommend that this be done from the primary school level; the home and church should also be involved.
The researcher would further suggest that parents spend more time in open discussions with their children and monitoring their activities, for example, the type of television programmes they view and the type of radio and movies they are allowed to watch.

Implementation strategy
In order to solve this problem I would therefore use one of the measures to use the media and advertising agencies to promote and educate the public about the irresponsible sexual activities.

Bibliography
Ivan L. Waterman and Janey Fisher Social Studies for CSEC Examinations, Second edition, Macmillan 2007

Table of Contents
Task Pages
Acknowledgment……………………………………………………………………………… 1
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………… 2
Statement of Problem ……………..………………………………………………………. 3
Reason for selecting area ………………………………………………………………… 4
Method of Investigation …..……………..……………………………………………… 5
Data Collection Instrument ………………………………………………………………. 6 Questionnaire ……………………………………………………………………………………. 7-8 Procedures for Data Collection …………………………………………………………… 9 Presentation of Data ………………………………………………………………………….. 10-12 Analysis and Interpretation of Data ……………………………………………………. 13 Findings …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 14 Recommendations and Implementations Strategy …………………………….. 15
Biblography ………………………………………………………………………………………… 16

Presentation And Explanation of data
A total 25 questionnaire were type up and were distributed to the residents of the Rae Town Community,out of which all 25 were returned.Of these responses 70% were female and 30%wer male.

Rationale
Teenage Pregnancy has always been a cause of concern in my community of Parade Garden an in the past year the researcher has observed that the number of teenage pregnancy has increased tremendously .
The researcher is concerned about teenage pregnancy because teenagers are losing their educational opportunities increasingly as many as not return to school . This may later lead to increased unemployed and uneducated young women who will become dependent on men or on the welfare system of the country for financial support .

Procedures for Data Collect

In the Rae Town Community there were approximately 20 buildings on the scheme. A total of 30 questionnaire were prepared for distribution to the buildings on the scheme. However, I decided to distribute the questionnaires in the order of which I issue a copy to every other building. The 20 buildings that were selected they were supplied with questionnaire. Then all questionnaire issued out were collected.