Teenage pregnancy

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An advertisement warning against teenage pregnancy, showing a pregnant teenager.
Teenage pregnancies, per 1000 adolescents (15-19). Darker colors mean more teenage pregnancies.

Teenage pregnancy is a situation which involves female adolescents who are less than 20 years old.[1] But sometimes preteens (people under 13) can become pregnant as well. The fact that teenagers become pregnant is related to many factors. These are related to the specific situation of the teenager and the group that she interacts with. The rates of teenage pregnancy vary from country to country and are related to differences of sexual activities, the general sex education and contraceptives being available. Teen pregnancy will sometimes involve low birth weight. Social matters also play a role: often, the teenager grew up in poverty. She also often has a lower level of general education. Pregnancy in teenagers in the developed world usually occurs outside of marriage. The lowest levels of teenage pregnancy are in Japan and South Korea. Teenage pregnancies are common among Romani people. Bulgaria and Romania have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.[2]

Problems[change | change source]

Medicalities[change | change source]

Teenage pregnancies have a number of problems:

  • There is a higher risk that babies born from teenage mothers are born too early, or that they have a low weight at birth.[3][4][5]
  • The mothers may also encounter complications or difficulties at birth; they have a higher risk of anaemia than mothers aged 20–24.[6]
  • A pregnancy is best followed by trained medical staff during its course. Teenage mothers are less likely to receive prenatal care, often seeking it in the third trimester, if at all.[3] The Guttmacher Institute reports that one-third of pregnant teens receive insufficient prenatal care and that their children are more likely to suffer from health issues in childhood or be hospitalized than those born to older women.[7]
  • Like most other teenagers, teenage mothers may suffer from poor nutrition. This may lead to them having specific illnesses related to bad nutrition.[8] Bad nutrition is a more marked problem of teenagers in developed countries.[9][10]
  • Up to 70,000 teen girls in developing countries die from complications during pregnancy each year. Young mothers and their babies are also at greater risk of contracting HIV.[11] The World Health Organization estimates that the risk of death following pregnancy is twice as high for women between 15 and 19 years than for those between the ages of 20 and 24. The maternal mortality rate can be up to five times higher for girls aged between 10 and 14 than for women of about twenty years of age. Illegal abortion also holds many risks for teenage girls in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa.[12]
  • Risk for complications are higher for girl 14 years or younger, because their pelvis has not yet developed fully; this may lead to probems with childbirth. Some of these problems can be dealt with using Cesarean section (C Section)This requires the services of a doctor, or a hospital, which is often unavailable. Where this is unavailable, eclampsia, obstetric fistula, infant mortality, or maternal death can result.[11] For mothers in their late teens, age in itself is not a risk factor, and poor outcomes are associated more with socioeconomic factors rather than with biology.[3]

Social[change | change source]

  • Problems other than the age of the mother, such as poverty and social support also affect the outcome. It is important that teenage mothers can rely on the family and the state to help them cope, and educate their child. Teenage parents who can rely on family and community support, social services and child-care support are more likely to continue their education and get higher paying jobs as they progress with their education.[13]
  • Being a young mother often affects education.Teen mothers are more likely to drop out of high school.[4] Recent studies, though, have found that many of these mothers had already dropped out of school prior to becoming pregnant. One study in 2001 found that women who gave birth during their teens completed secondary-level schooling 10–12% as often and pursued post-secondary education 14–29% as often as women who waited until age 30.[14]

Potential Solutions[change | change source]

Education[change | change source]

A large cause of teenage pregnancy is a lack of education about sex and pregnancy.[15] The first to be blamed are schools and teachers, but the real starting point should be from within the family.[16][17] Sometimes parents might think talking about sex is inappropriate or that it is automatically encouraging their children to have sex, so they avoid talking about it entirely. This leaves kids with information only from their peers, which often includes pressure to engage in sex acts to meet social standards. Parents should realize that in attempting to protect their children from the reality of human sexuality they are causing more harm than good. Open discussion about sex in a safe, nonjudgmental environment is essential to helping minors make educated decisions about sex.[16] Pediatricians also take it upon themselves to make up for the information that has not been properly communicated to teens, and continually recognize better education as the key to helping reduce teen pregnancy.[17][18]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ Adolescent Pregnancy (PDF). World Health Organization. 2004. p. 5. ISBN 978-9241591454. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Adolescent Pregnancy". 18 March 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Makinson C (1985). "The health consequences of teenage fertility". Fam Plann Perspect. 17 (3): 132–9. doi:10.2307/2135024. JSTOR 2135024. PMID 2431924.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (2002). Not Just Another Single Issue: Teen Pregnancy Prevention's Link to Other Critical Social IssuesPDF (147 KB). Retrieved May 27, 2006.
  5. ↑ Scholl TO, Hediger ML, Belsky DH (1994). "Prenatal care and maternal health during adolescent pregnancy: a review and meta-analysis". J Adolesc Health. 15 (6): 444–56. doi:10.1016/1054-139X(94)90491-K. PMID 7811676.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Banerjee, B.; Pandey, G.; Dutt, D.; Sengupta, B.; Mondal, M.; Deb, S. (2009). "Teenage Pregnancy: A Socially Inflicted Health Hazard". Indian Journal of Community Medicine. 34 (3): 227–231. doi:10.4103/0970-0218.55289. PMC 2800903. PMID 20049301.
  7. ↑ Guttmacher Institute. (1999, September). Teen Sex and Pregnancy Archived 2005-04-03 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 29, 2006.
  8. ↑ Gutierrez Y, King JC (1993). "Nutrition during teenage pregnancy". Pediatr Ann. 22 (2): 99–108. doi:10.3928/0090-4481-19930201-07. PMID 8493060.
  9. ↑ Sanchez PA; Idrisa A; Bobzom DN; et al. (1997). "Calcium and vitamin D status of pregnant teenagers in Maiduguri, Nigeria". J Natl Med Assoc. 89 (12): 805–11. PMC 2608295. PMID 9433060.
  10. ↑ Peña E, Sánchez A, Solano L (2003). "[Profile of nutritional risk in pregnant adolescents]". Arch Latinoam Nutr (in Spanish). 53 (2): 141–9. PMID 14528603.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Mayor S (2004). "Pregnancy and childbirth are leading causes of death in teenage girls in developing countries". BMJ. 328 (7449): 1152. doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7449.1152-a. PMC 411126. PMID 15142897.
  12. ↑ Locoh, Therese. (2000). "Early Marriage And Motherhood In Sub-Saharan Africa Archived 2016-01-02 at the Wayback Machine." WIN News.'.' Retrieved July 7, 2006.
  13. ↑ Stepp, G. (2009).Teen Pregnancy: The Tangled Web.
  14. ↑ Hofferth, Sandra L., Reid, Lori, Mott and Frank L. (2001). "The Effects of Early Childbearing On Schooling over Time". Family Planning Perspectives. 33 (6): 259–267. doi:10.2307/3030193. JSTOR 3030193. PMID 11804435.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Honig, Alice S. “Teen pregnancy.” International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 17.4 (2012) p. 181-187. Web. 3 Nov. 2014. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Teen Pregnancy: What Are the Consequences? Dir. Dale Gaydos. Prod. Stuart Muszynski. Aquarius Health Care Media, 2006. Alexander Street Evidence Based Acquisition. Web. 3 Nov. 2014. <http://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/179 4750>.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Hobbie, Cynthia. “Teen pregnancy and teen parenting.” Journal of Pediatric Healthcare. 7.2 (1993) p. 96-97. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
  18. ↑ McCracken, Katherine A.; Loveless, Meredith. “Teen pregnancy: an update.” Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 26.5 (2014) p. 355-359. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.

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