Topic:Teen Pregnancy

Running Head: Teen Pregnancy 1

Teen Pregnancy 2

Teen Pregnancy

Name

Institution

Date

Teen Pregnancy

Introduction

Early sexual activity is one of the major issues in the development of adolescents. Different surveys such as Youth Risk Behavior Survey and National Survey of Family Growth have established that most adolescents engage in sexual activities at earlier ages. However, older adolescents aged 15 years and older have recorded a reduction in sexual activity whereas those that are younger have recorded increased sexual activity. There are different factors that make adolescents engage in sexual activities. Some of these factors include peer pressure to engage in sexual activity, adolescents that mature earlier and the influence of the new media. The use of drugs as well as alcohol leads to reduced inhibitions hence, influencing unprotected sexual activity. Boys and girls that smoke or take alcohol are at risk of early sexual activity. This is because the use of these substances influences their decision making in social contexts.

Fake references According Peters, 2017, early sexual activity is associated with teen pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy has been a national concern for many decades. Teenage pregnancy in most cases complicates the development of adolescents and it leads to a difficultshift to young adulthood. This leads to potential limited economic and most important educational opportunities. There has been a significant teenage pregnancy decline in the last three decades. However, based on the National Campaign aimed at preventing teen pregnancy shows that out of ten girls, four of them get pregnant before they are twenty years old. Compared to other industrialized countries, United States has the highest teen pregnancy, abortion and birth rates (Peters, 2017).

Population Impacted and how they are affected.

Sexual risk behavior among adolescents in the United States is a major health concern. According to Rebecca et al, 2011, approximately 800,000 girls aged between fifteen and nineteen years get pregnant every year. In recent years, the proportion of sexually experienced adolescents has decreased. However, 34 percent of the ninth graders and 61 percent of the 12th graders agree to having had sexual intercourse. Of those that go to high school, 7 percent agree to have sex before their thirteenth birthday. Fake data

In 2015, 229,715babies were born to mothers aged between 15 years and 19 years. This represented a birth rate of approximately 22 per 1,000 girls in the 15-19 age group. This was a record low showing a drop of 8 percent from the previous year, 2014. There was also a significant drop of 9% for girls aged 15 to 17 and 7% for women between 18 years and 19 years. The decline was attributed to abstinence of teens from sexual activity and those that are were sexually active using birth controls measures. However, despite the record decline in the rate of teen pregnancy between 2014 and 2015, the United States still leads the teen pregnancy rate compared to other western nations as well as geographical and ethnic/racial disparities in teen birth rates. Not original data in references

Disparities in Teen Birth Rates

Teen birth rates decreased among 15 to 19 year-olds from 2014 to 2015 as shown below.

· 8% for Hispanics

· 9% for non-Hispanic blacks

· 10% for Asian/Pacific Islanders

· 6%for American Indian/Alaska Natives

· 8% for Hispanic whites

In the year 2015, the Hispanic teens’ birth rate was more than twice than that of the non-Hispanic white teens. The non-Hispanic teens’ birth rate was almost two times that of the non-Hispanic white teens. This shows that the geographic disparities in birth rates of teens persist, not only within but also across the states in the U.S. High teen birth rate is as a result of socioeconomic conditions that are less favorable like low education as well as low income of the families where the teens belong. Compared to other groups, teens in the systems of child welfare are at a higher risk of engaging in sexual activity hence becoming pregnant and giving birth. For example, teens that live in foster care have a higher chance of becoming pregnant compared to those that are not in foster care (CDC, 2017).

Over the years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been used so as to improve the life opportunities of the teens who are likely to become pregnant and give birth. CDC uses data from various systems and researches to direct resources to areas that are in great need. One of the CDC’s top priorities is to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy and campaign for the importance to good health and quality of life for the country’s young generation aged between 13 years and 20 years. CDC has been supporting the implementation of teen pregnancy preventions programs.

Influence of New Media on the Adolescent Sexual Health

Over the last decade, a research carried out identified shown that media has potentially contributed to this behavior which risk the teens. The media landscape has been evolving rapidly bringing on board different types of content for consumers, new media types, and platforms used to deliver media content have been emerging over the last two decades. The number of television channels has increased which allows the youth to choose from a pool of many programs than in the past when the channels were very few. The internet holds variety of the media ranging from music, films, games and television (Rebecca et al. 2011). From course hero Many inventions have also been developed hence making it easier for people to gain access of the content. Some of these inventions include computers, smartphones, MP3 players and smart televisions. The portability of new technologies makes it possible for youths to access various media content every time and place. Adolescents have immersed themselves into these new media, social networking platforms and instant messaging applications playing a key role in their lives. Therefore, this calls for researchers to study new media as well as sharing platforms to determine the extent of their influence to the behaviors of the teenagers. Researchers are likely to find out that the media has contributed to the development of sexual behavior and attitudes (Rebecca et al. 2011).

Effects of the affected population

There is a noteworthy risk factor for early sexual activity which is the sexual trauma history. This applies to both males and females, however, there is an increased risk for females. Adolescent girls with sexual trauma history during their childhood and/or adolescent may become sexually provocative as a way of coping with what happened to them. This mechanism of coping is negative. This is because it may lead to their involvement in sexual activities like prostitution.

Girls with history of sexual trauma are at risk of getting involved in the juvenile justice system. This happens mostly when the girl’s home environment is not supportive in a way that it allows her to patch up from her sexual upsets. Girls in the juvenile justice system are likely to develop escaping behaviors so as to get away from offensive environments. This may result in the girls getting introduced to sexual exploitation as a way of surviving while in the streets. This also applies to the boys too.

History of how this has been handled in the past

The teenage mothers are at risk for school failure and eventually poverty. On the other hand, their offspring face many risks such as low birth-weight, poverty as well, poor health care and developmental problems during early childhood. There are programs that were developed with the aim of supporting single parent mothers. One of these programs is Aids to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). However, the programs were condemnedas being a motivation and also encouraging birth of children to people who are not married. On the other hand, the teen mothers are sometimes blamed and portrayed negatively within the media and the public (Peters, 2017).

Conclusion

In 2016, the federal government started healthy people 2020 initiative. The main goal of this initiative is to assist in reducing the rate of teen pregnancy. The initiative also has other related goals such as increasing the rates of sex education, abstinence, and encouraging use of use of condoms and hormonal birth control methods to those that are sexually active (Child Trends, 2016). Conducting sexuality education at home has been found to be inadequate. Parents ought to provide an environment that is supportive for their adolescent children. This will help them in developing an understanding of their sexuality which is very paramount during their adolescent years. This is because the adolescent period represents fundamental changes because the adolescents are aware of reproductive abilities that ought to be understood socially, emotionally and cognitively (Peters, 2017). Conclusion not related to my paper

References fake references

Peters, S. (2017). Risk Behaviors – Sexual Activity among Teens and Teen Pregnancy Trends. State University. United States of America. Retrieved from: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2372/Risk-Behaviors-SEXUAL-ACTIVITY-AMONG-TEENS-TEEN-PREGNANCY-TRENDS.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).(2017). Teen Pregnancy in the United States. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm

Rebecca, L. C. Steven, C. M. & Rebecca S. (2011). Influence of the New Media on the Adolescent Sexual Health: Evidence and Opportunities. Retrieved from: https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/influence-new-media-adolescent-sexual-health-evidence-and-opportunities