Adolescent Pregnancy

ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY: A PROBLEM ANALYSIS

The purpose of this report is to present a detailed analysis of the societal problem of adolescent pregnancy. In addition to presenting descriptive data delineating the scope of the problem, its precursors, consequences, and salient relationships, the paper discusses the causes, future course of the problem and interventions designed to prevent teen pregnancy and/or assist pregnant teens deciding to keep their babies. The limitations of the problem analysis itself as a method of determining the general nature and parameters of the problem are discussed in the final section of the report.

Nature of the Problem: General Data

According to the National Research Council (1987), the teenage pregnancy rate in the United States is one of the highest in the world. The NRC reports that about 10 percent of all American teenage girls become pregnant with 13 percent having miscarriages, 40 percent deciding to abort, and the remaining 47 percent electing to have the baby with only about 6 percent of these deciding to put the baby up for adoption.

In terms of numbers, these percentages translate to a yearly teen pregnancy rate of one million girls (Tyrer, Rothbart & Anderson, 1989); of these, 30,000 are under the age of 15 (Wildey, 1987). Indeed, according to U.S. census data (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990), while the number of livebirths to parents under the age of 20 has declined over the last several decades, the number of

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ct by considering themselves so swept away by love that they were unable to help themselves. Only unpremeditated sex is acceptable; carefully planned sex is for "bad" girls. Specifically, Cassell (1984) reports that the guiltier a girl feels about having premarital sex, the less likely it is that she will use an effective method of contraception. In addition to guilt, Carrera (1986) notes that many teenagers engage in unprotected sex because of psychological problems such as low self-esteem and lack of motivation arising out of a dysfunctional home-life. Clarke-Stewart, Friedman and Koch (1985) also note that the family plays a role in teenage pregnancy. As the authors put it: ...if a teenage girl's parents are not currently married, if she comes from a large family, or if her parents are lax in monitoring her dating behavior, her chances of becoming pregnant during her teens are several times greater than they would otherwise be. (Clarke-Stewart, Friedman & Koch, 1985, p.257) Conger (1988) has also noted that the family can play a role in either fostering or delaying the teenager's decision to delay becoming sexually active. He notes that when parents talk about sex with children from an early age, communicate healthy attit

Category: Psychology - A