Teen Pregnancy Cause and Effect By: Carolina Vergara

Teen Pregnancy Facts - Over half a million teens between 15 and 19 years of age give birth each year in the United States. -Very few teens who become mothers plan on doing so. -Thirty-four percent of girls get pregnant at least once before age 20. -Babies born to teenagers are more at risk for premature birth and low birth weight, raising the possibility of infant death, blindness, deafness, chronic respiratory.

Causes of Teen Pregnancy -The reason that teen pregnancy rates are higher in the United States is that teens here are less likely to use contraceptives, have shorter relationships, and have more sexual partner. -The causes are usually a combination of factors, among which are peer pressure, lack of self-esteem (desire to feel lovable), general rebelliousness, selfishness and lack of quality parental relationships.

More on causes -Lack of self-esteem: When a teen gets a serious boyfriend they may go to any cost to make their new found love happy. A lot of teens have sex with their partner because they think that is the only way to make him continue to love her. What they should realize is that if he truly loves her then sex definitely wouldn’t be a priority. -Peer Pressure: Many teenagers are not taught how to deal with peers who pressure them into having sex before they are ready.

More on causes -Lack of knowledge about sex: According to the article "Lack of Parental Guidance Contributes to Teen Pregnancy", parents sometimes knowingly provide false information about sex to discourage their children from participating in it.

A True Story -Emily claims that she was pressured into having sex with her boyfriend when she was thirteen and that no one had taught her how to deal with this pressure and to say "no". Emily wound up pregnant but aborted the child, as she felt there was no way that she, at thirteen, could take care of a baby. * This is a way that peer pressure causes pregnancy. Emily ended up pregnant because of it.

Effects of Teen Pregnancy -Effects include high abortion rates, low graduation rates, low income status and the continuation of the next generation doing the same. -Reducing the number of teen pregnancies would help promote child well-being and decrease child poverty rates. -Less than one third of teen mothers get a high school diploma, and only 1.5 percent gets a college degree.

Prevention Examples of programs that aim to prevent this issue are: -More comprehensive sex education courses would help teenagers better understand how to protect themselves and, in turn, would help reduce the number of teen pregnancies in the United States. Examples of programs that aim to prevent this issue are: *National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy: founded in 1996 with the goal to reduce teen pregnancy by one-third.  *Adolescent Family Life Demonstration and Research program: began in 1981 provides research grants and demonstrations to promote programs that help raise the awareness of abstinence.

Relationship with other health teen issues -Depression: Finding out your pregnant as a teen can be a very scariest moment. Many teens find themselves emotionally crazy, this can lead to depression. -Suicide: When compared to teens who are not sexually active, teenage boys and girls who are sexually active are significantly more likely to attempt suicide. Drugs and alcohol: 50 percent of teens say drinking and drugs are the main reason teens don't use contraception when they have sex.(source: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy)

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Bibliography *ttp://community.michiana.org/famconn/teenpreg.html *http://www.unc.edu/~jones16/service%20learning%20article.pdf *http://www.buzzle.com/articles//the-prevention-and-effects-of-teen-pregnancy.html *http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/100858/causes_of_teenage_pregnancy.html?cat=25 *http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/ *http://sexreally.com/the-show