Teenage
pregnancy
Teenage
pregnancy
is defined as a teenaged or underage girl (usually within the ages of 13–19)
becoming pregnant. The term in
everyday speech usually refers to women who have not reached legal adulthood,
which varies across the world, who become pregnant.
Causes and
Effects of Teen Pregnancy
You may be
wondering about the causes and effects of teenage pregnancy. A teenage girl may
become pregnant as a result of many different situations. Some teenage girls
become pregnant while involved in long-term dating relationships. Other girls
become pregnant after hooking up. And, some girls may become pregnant as a
result of a rape situation.
Common methods
of birth control include:
the birth
control pill or patch
condoms
intrauterine
devices (IUD)
the
Depo-Provera injection
diaphragms
spermicidal
cervical
caps
Each of these
birth control methods can fail even when used correctly. However, studies show
that teens are more likely to use birth control methods improperly, leading to
a higher likelihood that they may fail and cause a teen pregnancy to occur.
Effects of
Pregnancy on Teens
Facing an
unplanned teen pregnancy can be hard. The effects of teenage pregnancy are not
limited to having to decide whether or not to keep the baby, how to cope with
motherhood or whether to make an adoption plan. One of the most immediate
effects of teen pregnancy is how the growing baby changes a teenager's body as
well as their lifestyle.
Because a teen's
body immediately begins the process of carrying a child and preparing for
childbirth, a teenager needs to consider the effect that her physical
activities may have on her developing baby. A variety of activities common to
teens may have a negative effect on a developing baby:
Drinking
alcoholic beverages
Smoking
cigarettes or marijuana
Lack of
sleep
Unhealthy
eating patterns
Other physical
changes that take place as her uterus expands may impact things as simple as
clothing choices or her ability to safely participate in sports. This means
that an average teenage girl will need to speak with her doctor about what
activities need to be limited during her pregnancy as well as what changes she
might need to make to her diet.
Emotional
Effects of Teen Pregnancy
Dealing with an
unplanned pregnancy can be scary and confusing. Some of the emotions that you may
encounter when facing an unplanned pregnancy are:
Initial
excitement
Confusion
Fear
Resentment
Frustration
It's a natural
response for you to think about and want to protect the baby that is growing
inside you. It is also natural for you to be scared and confused about how to
deal with this unplanned pregnancy.
Lack of
affectionate supervision of parents or guardians results into the
adolescents or teenage girl’s becoming pregnant. A survey has revealed
that around 13 million children are born from the teenage girls living in
underdeveloped countries.
Though the
teenage pregnancy is speculated to exceed the figure 90%, large percentage
of it is restricted to USA and Sahara African only.
USA tops in
teenage pregnancy and teenage abortion in the world.
Factors
Contributing In Teenage Pregnancy
Spontaneous
curiosity towards sex and a desire to taste it in the proximity of some
boys exhorts the teenage girls to get involved in doing whatever they
find most enjoyable with their opposite sex, leading to teenage
pregnancy.
Freedom to
interact with boys and pass time with them for several hours in seclusion
has got to result into teenage pregnancy.
Frustration-
Carelessness on the part of parents causes a great frustration amongst the
adolescents or teenagers, compelling them to seek affection and love form
their boyfriends. Opposite sex works like a remarkable remedy in lessening
psychological dejection, leading to sex and subsequent teenage pregnancy.
Lack of Sex
Education- Lack of sex education, especially to the
teenage girls causes teenage pregnancy. Keeping in view such fact, all the
parents should impart sex education upon their teenage daughters so that
they should well be equipped with sex knowledge and save themselves from
being victimized of teenage pregnancy.
Sex Abuse-
Being not aware of sexual impact maximum numbers of teenage girls go for
sex for the sake of enjoyment only, which often results into their getting
pregnant.
Impact of
Teenage Pregnancy
·
Very
destructive impact accrues over a teenage girl if she becomes pregnant after
doing intercourse with a boy. The teenage girl comes under the grip of
tremendous dilemma, after realizing some physical changes substantiating her
becoming pregnant. She can’t muster the courage to apprise her parent of what
she is passing through and often leave everything on fate. As the teens do not
know as to what is awaited from their womb, they do their routine works without
being much serious of someone getting nurtured in their womb by the nature.
Before her lusting acts coming into the notice of her parents, the teenager is
found to have put her and her unwanted baby’s life into peril. There remains no
any option before her parent except to abort the fetus.
·
Harm
to girl and her unborn baby can’t be ruled out. So teenage
pregnancy not only is immoral but dangerous as well, to the adolescent girl and
her baby. It is the duty of responsible mother and father to prevent it from
happening with their daughters by taking precautionary steps in advance.
·
Teenage
pregnancy affects the education of under fourteen girls and causes a
great humiliation in her in friend circle. Teenage pregnancy spoils entire
career of such teenage girls.
·
Parents
feel ashamed of their daughter, as her pregnancy makes their
negligence public, in the society.
·
Teenage
pregnancy causes psychological and physical trauma to the girl
forcing her often to commit suicide especially in the conservative families of
developing countries where it is looked upon with hate.
·
Pelvis
being not grown up enough to sustain the baby leads to a variety of complications
such as excessive discharge, unpleasant smell and infection.
·
It causes
in the teenage girls (in the developing countries), obstetric fistula,
eclampsia, infant mortality and oftentimes maternal death.
In the arts,
films and literature
Teenage pregnancy
has been used as a theme or plot device in fiction, including books, films, and
television series. The setting
may be historical (The Blue Lagoon, Hope
and Glory) or contemporary (One Tree Hill), the
central character becomes pregnant through non-penetrative sex. The drama
often focuses around the discovery of the pregnancy and the decision to opt for
abortion (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), adoption (Mom at Sixteen, Juno), marriage (Sugar & Spice, Reba and Jenny,
Juno) or life as a single
mother (Saved!, Where the Heart Is, Someone Like You