Essay Example on Teen Pregnancy: An Old Challenge in a New Century

Introduction

Teen pregnancy is one of the significant hurdles that face parenthood in this century. The surge in teen pregnancy has alarmed not only parents but also the government since it can feel the strain in its delivery of services in the health realm. Teen pregnancy existed during the ancient days when the society practiced old traditions that allowed teenagers to get married since parents always targeted wealth in the form of dowry from their teenage girls. As civilization took over, laws were established, which led to the removal of the old traditions and practices of early marriages of teenagers. However, despite the legislation, contemporary society is now grappling with teen pregnancy cases, which are on the rise. This discourse, therefore, examines some of the leading causes of teen pregnancies, and the consequences of this problem among adolescents. It further highlights the intervention programs, which can help eradicate if not mitigate the teen pregnancy and its impacts. Teen pregnancy among adolescents and emerging adults is a massive problem, which has adverse consequences, which can be reduced or eliminated through several programs. Several social, genetic and physical factors are known to be the primary contributory factors that lead to teen pregnancy.

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Consequences of Teen Pregnancy to Adolescents

Social Impact

Teenage pregnancy comes at a time when the parties are not ready to take up the social roles of a parent. In most cases, the girl-child is the most affected in this problem. When a teenage girl gets pregnant, she will abandon all her social activities to focus on the pregnancy. At this point, she gets ashamed of herself that she cannot associate with her peers. This aspect puts her in a desperate situation whereby she gets alienated from others to the level of being lonely. Staying lonely triggers many thoughts that can end up affecting the general welfare of the girl. To the boy who caused the pregnancy, his social lifestyle also get adversely affected since he gets ridiculed by his peers for engaging in an act that the society exclusively leaves it to the adults. In essence, teenage pregnancy does not augur well with the social aspects that a teenage should experience (Sugar, 2012).

Emotional Effects

Teenage pregnancy, in most cases, finds the affected teenager when she least expects. This situation is attributable to the fact that the affected person has not planned for it; neither has she premeditated on the impacts that come with this pregnancy. Therefore, when the affected teenager realizes that she is pregnant, she automatically gets emotionally disturbed. Her moods quickly change to moody since she cannot believe that she has plunged into such trouble. At this stage, parents find the teenager to be a curse in life since they feel ashamed of her. Due to the overwhelming regrets emerging from the societal condemnation, the affected youth beings to suffer from emotional effects, for instance, she may experience increased anxiety and depression. To the boy child that caused the pregnancy, he may also get emotionally disturbed, especially when it dawns on him that he has to prematurely assume the role of a father (Sugar, 2012).

Cognitive Impacts

At the teenage stage, youths have their cognitive aspect developing at a high rate. This stage is where the teenager's mind can grasp the content, which further improves their cognitive perspective. That is why this level of development requires the utmost concentration to enable youths to tap the attributes that promote mental stability. Unfortunately, teenage pregnancy destroys these processes. When a teenager gets pregnant, her focus shifts whereby she has to deal with the social and emotional pressure that emanates from all angles. Therefore, they do not have time to concentrate on studies, which are the major contributing factors to cognitive development. Besides, adverse pregnancy impacts on cognitive development do not end at birth. Taking care of a baby is not an easy task. In consequence, such a teenager will spend most of his otherwise time for education on child nursing at the expense of her cognitive needs (Sugar, 2012).

Health Effects

Pregnancy to teenagers comes with many health impacts. The moment a teenager realizes that she is pregnant, she gets shell-shocked since such an occurrence is the least that a teenager would expect (Sugar, 2012). In any case, when they engage in sex, teenagers hardly envisage pregnancy as they majorly consider themselves too young to conceive. Therefore, it shocks them when they find out that they are pregnant. Many teenagers would end up in isolation or depression, which significantly affects their mental health. Pregnancy is a normal body process, but when it happens to someone whose body is not strong and ready to carry the fetus, many health complications arise. For instance, blood levels in the system may drop, or the affected teenager may experience complications associated with pregnancy like candidiasis. Candidiasis is a virginal yeast infection that is common among pregnant women. Other health complications emerge at birth or in the post-natal stages.

Contributory Factors to Teen Pregnancy

Social Factors

The social factors that contribute to teenage pregnancies vary. The common ones are the role of parents in nurturing their children. Drug abuse and general delinquency also add massively to this vice. The purpose of fathers and mothers in the life of teenagers are critical. These are persons who can either perfect or ruin the life of a teenager. Unfortunately, some parents lack adequate knowledge to handle teenagers. Others choose to ignore this role by leaving it to teachers. Parents who fail to advise their children on sexual life make their children susceptible to teenage pregnancy. Besides, when parents are not keen with their children to the level of not offering security to their children, they expose them to sexual predators.

The National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being study revealed that women who actively engaged in drug abuse and delinquency ended up getting unplanned pregnancy within the 36 week-study (Helfrich & McWey, 2013). This finding resonates with adolescents who engage in drug abuse and misconduct. When teenagers get into drug abuse, they join groups, which are marred by the addiction to sex and drugs. Drug abuse does not allow any person to think about anything constructive apart from the drug and sexual escapades. Unfortunately, youths who get into drug abuse indiscriminately indulge in unprotected sex, which leads to pregnancies. Teenagers who engage in criminal activities are also prone to early pregnancies. Such teens have nothing to discuss apart from immorality. With such discourses, they engage in sexual activities that end up causing pregnancy.

Genetic Factors

The aspect of genetics in teen pregnancy has not been widely researched since many experts seem to contend that genetics can influence the susceptibility of teenagers to pregnancy. However, the sexuality of teenage can be affected by genetics. Since the end product of unprotected sex is pregnancy, there is a close link between sexuality and pregnancy since the former directly impacts the latter. Genetics can influence the rate of body development as it influences puberty developments, doperminagic systems, and testosterone levels, among other physiological aspects (Harden, 2014). Teenagers whose bodies quickly reach puberty are susceptible to teenage pregnancy if they get exposed to sexual predators. Genetics also affect the physical growth of teenagers. Youths who are naturally huge in the body have high chances of getting pregnant due to their physical appearance of an adult. Sexual predators hardly differentiate between adults and huge-bodied adolescents. From the above findings, there is no doubt that genetics play a role in teenage pregnancies.

Prevention/Intervention Programs on Teen Pregnancy

Integration of Teen Pregnancy Prevention in Education and Career Training

This approach is one of the most effective ways of reducing teen pregnancy. Among its objectives is to ensure that there is a decline in the rate of teen pregnancies in society (Fuller, White, Chu, Dean, Clemmons, Chaparro & King, 2016). Another goal of this program is to make sure that parents understand how to take care of their children. The timing of the program is quite long since it entails dealing with a person from their youthful stage to adulthood. Therefore, to a young individual, the program could take at least twenty five years. There are several activities that an individual engages in when undertaking the program. For instance, they learn various things that they should consider in life to avert cases of early pregnancy. The program enlightens people on the dangers that come with teen pregnancy. Children and youths who go through lessons end up avoiding risky behaviors that lead to early pregnancy. This program serves all kinds of people in the population. Education and career training affect them both children and adults. Therefore, when teen pregnancy insights get integrated with such lessons, all people get to understand how to deal with the menace of teen pregnancy. Research-based impacts of this program are numerous. However, the most common one is that it offers adequate information to society members on the harmful effects of teenage pregnancy. With such knowledge, people learn how to circumvent adolescent pregnancy.

Father-Based Involvement in Shaping the Sexual Life of Sons

This program advocates for the involvement of fathers in offering guidance to their sons as far as sexual activities are concerned (Guilamo-Ramos, Bowman, Maria, Kabemba & Geronimo, 2017). One of the major causes of teenage pregnancy is the lack of proper advice on young men. This program, therefore, seeks to foster the role of fathers in reducing adolescent pregnancy. It also targets fathers to encourage their sons to use condoms during sexual escapades. The duration of this program is unlimited since fathers keep siring boys who grow into teenagers. Therefore, the program remains perpetual. The activity engages fathers by informing them the need to advise their sons to practice safe sex. The target population of this program is male members of the society who have young boys headed towards teenage life. The research-based impact of this program is not limited to the increase of the number of boys or men who engage in sexual activities using condoms.

Other Known Protective Factors That Help To Reduce Negative Impacts

Establishment of community-based teenage pregnancy prevention programs is an initiative that helps reduce the rate at which teenagers get engaged in early pregnancies. These programs offer general awareness to all members of the community by specifically dealing with various modes of controlling teenage pregnancies. "...which focused on working with diverse communities, sought to engage community members from different backgrounds to participate in community mobilization and stakeholder education, as well as ensure that EBI's and sexual and reproductive health services..."(Mueller, Tevendale, Fuller, House, Romero, Brittain & Varanasi, 2017). The program entails various activities like awareness on condom use, parental involvement in teaching children about sexuality and promotion of the moral aspects of the society by discouraging criminal activities as well as drug abuse. In any case, immorality is one of the cardinal causes of teenage pregnancies in the society.

Conclusion

Teenage pregnancy is a pervasive social issue whose huge concern should not get underestimated. Many teenagers are getting impregnated when they should be using their time to do studies. Parents and the government have gotten worried by the high rate of teenage pregnancies. There...