Running head: TEENAGE PREGNANCY 1
Teenage Pregnancy: Causes and Consequences
Dora Rabb
Liberty University
TEENAGE PREGNANCY 2
Abstract
Early childbearing and parenthood among teenagers can negatively impact the present and future
life of a teenager who finds themselves pregnant, yet many teenagers become pregnant.
Therefore, it is imperative to become knowledgeable about the causes and consequences of
teenage pregnancies which will enable society and communities to work together, seeking ways
to reduce teenage pregnancies and counteract the deviant behaviors and mindsets that lead to
teenage pregnancies. Throughout history teenage pregnancy had affected adolescent girls in
many parts of the world, but this paper will examine research that show teenage pregnancy is
more prevalent in the U.S. than in many other countries. This research will also define teenage
pregnancy, list some of the causes and consequences of teenage pregnancy, and consider
prevention and control of teenage pregnancy.
Keywords: teenage, pregnancy, parenthood, childbearing
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Teenage Pregnancy: Causes and Consequence
The transitions teenagers endure from puberty to maturity can present many life-altering
experiences such as teenage pregnancy which could be caused by various factors to include
environmental issues teenagers encounter, lack of knowledge about safe sex, economic
disadvantages, and alcohol and drug usage. How does the United States rate among other
countries in teenage pregnancies, what are the consequences of teenage pregnancy, and how can
teenage pregnancies be prevented and controlled?
Teenage Pregnancy Defined
In the Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, Akella D. Albany & Jordan M.
Albany (2015) defined teenage pregnancy as a teenage girl, usually within the age category of 13
years of age and 19 years of age, becoming pregnant, but in everyday speech usually refers to
girls who have not reached legal adulthood who become pregnant. This definition many vary in
other areas around the world because of legal and cultural differences.
Teenage Pregnancy in the U.S.
How is it possible that one of the most industrialized countries in the world and one of
the wealthiest countries in the world, the United States of America, would have the highest rates
of adolescent pregnancy and early parenthood? According to an article in the American Journal
of Public Heath (2014) entitled Associations of Adolescent Hopelessness and Self-Worth with
Pregnancy Attempts and Pregnancy Desire written by Anna R. Fedorowicz, Wendy L.
Hellerstedt, Pamela J. Schreiner, & John M. Bolland, childbearing in the United States are
among the highest in the developed world with approximately 750,000 women younger than 20
years of age becoming pregnant on a yearly basis. Fedorowicz, Hellerstedt, Schreiner, &
Bolland’s article (2014) also concluded that although 57%of the births were typically to African
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American or Hispanic/Latino mothers, and African Americans and Hispanics are more likely
than whites to engage in risk behaviors associated with an early pregnancy such as vaginal
intercourse at an early age without the use of contraceptives, race and ethnicity do not, in
themselves, explain adolescent pregnancy risks in the United States. Obviously, there are many
underlying causes of teenage pregnancy regardless of what country they live in. Revista de
Cercetare Si Interventie Sociala (2016) featured an article by Laura Florescu, Oana Temneanu, &
Dana Mindru which noted 273,105 babies born in the United States 2013 were to adolescent
females ages 15 years of age to 19 years of age, and eighty-nine percent of the births occurred
outside of marriage. Although society has advanced educationally and technologically, and
although contraceptive methods are advertised openly through various media methods, the reality
is that teenage pregnancy is still an issue of much conversation and concern for teenagers in the
Unites States.
Causes of Teenage Pregnancy
Undoubtedly, there are a multitude of reasons why teenagers become pregnant and face a
life that has been forever altered by one careless decision, one intentional step into the unknown
challenges of pre-mature parenthood, or some tragic mishap that led to an unwanted pregnancy.
Are teenagers willing to drop out of high school, forfeit college, and give up the possibility of a
rewarding career in their chosen profession to become a parent before becoming an adult?
Although there are many causes that can lead to teenage pregnancy, environmental influences
and lack of knowledge about safe sex are two areas of concern.
The environment a teenager live in has the potential to, either negatively or positively,
influence the way teenagers think, talk, and behave. Environmental influences include peers,
family members, and sometimes church associations if the teenager is involved in the church
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community. All of a teenager’s close associations or distant associations can be a source of
acquiring information, ideas, and practices that may be contributing to behavioral patterns that
are inappropriate for teenagers. Albany & Albany’s (2015) research concluded that direct and
indirect contact with different associations expose teenagers to a variety off behaviors and
behavioral models that can be acceptable or unacceptable. Albany & Albany (2015) further
concluded that the definition of acceptable and unacceptable behavior is developed through
various reinforcements that are positive or negative. To further support the results concerning
reinforcements, Albany & Albany stated that positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of
the same behavior through pleasant outcomes and rewards, but negative reinforcements tries to
remove or reduce behavioral occurrences through punishment and harsh negative consequences.
As a teenager engage in activities with friends, family members, and other associates,
they observe the actions and character portrayals of those individuals, and they tend to follow the
examples they become familiar with. Peer pressure can exert a tremendous amount od stress on a
teenager to become engaged in whatever activities their friends may be actively involved in.
Peers may indicate there is pleasure and joy in sexual involvement, but they have no real-life
experience about what happen to a teenager who become a parent prematurely. Teenagers who
may suffer with low self-esteem and have a need to belong and be accepted by peers, can easily
be enticed to engage in sex that result in an unintended pregnancy. Unfortunately, neither the
teenager doing the encouraging nor the teenager being encouraged understand the life-altering
consequences of unprotected sex and unplanned parenthood.
Christie Barcelos & Aline Gubrium’s (2015) research found that some narratives
pathologize early childbearing as representative of young women who are sexually irresponsible
and young motherhood as developmentally inappropriate and that require young mothers to
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repent for their deviance. Unfortunately, the religious community is not always effective in
reducing teenage pregnancy. Roland Kappe’s (2016) research indicated that a religious
environment could lead to an increase in teenage childbirth through at least two mechanisms: the
religious environment could hinder the availability and use of contraceptives through behavioral
expectations on the individual or family level or through more direct restrictions and the
religious environment could hinder the correct and consistent use of contraceptives by hindering
education regarding contraceptive use. Kappe’s (2016) research also indicated that although a
religious environment can be expected to influence the social acceptability and individual desire
for giving birth at a young age, but religious environments have not been able to stop or reduce
teenage pregnancy.
Laura Florescu, Oana Temneanu, & Dana Mindru (2016) gathered research data that
precluded to limit the epidemic of teen motherhood will require more efficient education in the
family and in the social and educational environment; the teenager should have access to sexual
education in the family and at school, should have access to contraceptive method, should be part
of a secure development environment, free from exploitation and abuse as well as to benefit from
open communication with their parents. In a research study by Hatim Omar & Joav Merrick
(2014), 50.1% of the teens involved in the study were not using any method of birth control
when they became pregnant and 31.4% believed they cold not get pregnant at the time. Omar &
Merrick (2014) further concluded that 16.5% of all sexually active teens report they did not use
any method of birth control at the last sexual intercourse. Unintended or intended, pregnancies
are sure to occur with continued unprotected sexual involvement.
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Consequences of Teenage Pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy will most likely result in consequences the teenager is not prepared
for because they are too young to understand the responsibilities associated with parenting. The
teenager may find some support from friends, family, and other organizations but the
childrearing is still difficult for an immature teenager who is not yet equipped to manage a child
or manage the changes that come with being a parent, especially a young single parent. Teenage
pregnancy should not be taken lightly becayse the consequences can be devastating for the
teenager and the child. While the consequences of teenage pregnancy can vary, the teenager will
most likely experience educational deficiencies, economic hardship, and emotional stress.
Kevin Lang & Russell Weinstein’s research suggest that teen mothers who conceived
premaritally were more likely to drop out of school, marry earlier than expected, or may never
marry at all. Additionally, Lang & Weinstein’s research showed that teenage motherhood had
adverse on the teenager’s attainment of education and twelfth grade completions are less likely.
Other research supports the findings of Lang & Weinstein (2014). Christina Diaz & Jeremy Fiel’s
research clearly concluded that teen mothers have lower levels of socioeconomic attainment than
their childless peers, they are also less likely to complete high school, attend college, or earn a
bachelor’s degree, and they tend to earn less and are likely to experience poverty. According to
Diaz & Fiel (2016), time and energy restraints are more likely to not only hinder the teenager’s
educational attainment, but also hinder employment opportunities because a young mother may
also lack the necessary credentials or work experience to earn sufficient wages.
The fact that educational deficiencies can lead to economic hardships cannot be ignored.
If the teenager drops out of high school and does not secure a means of becoming equipped to
secure gainful employment, the teenager will experience significant economic hardship.
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Unemployed teenage mothers will also experience the need increased financial resources to
provide care for herself as well as the new baby. Should the teenage mother seek employment,
she will incur additional expenses for childcare if there is no assistance within her family.
Diaz & Fiel (2016) also suggested that the accelerated transition to motherhood may
result in adverse psychological effects resulting in stress. Teenage pregnancy propels the
teenager into the role of motherhood even if the teenager is totally unprepared or unwilling to
assume the role and responsibilities of being mother. Florescu, Temneanu, & Mindru (2016) infer
that teenage girls are physiologically, psychologically, and socially unprepared to have children,
and they are unable to make informed decisions about themselves and their children. This is
cause for added stress for teenage mothers. Stress may also be associated with the teenager’s
desire to complete their high school education and the desire to socialize and live a normal
teenage life, but due to early parenthood, these desires are hindered and therefore temporarily
unrealized. Chelsea Smith, Lisa Strohschein, & Robert Crosnoe (2018) concluded from their
research on family histories and teen pregnancy that some of the stress teenager experience may
be related to the relationship between the teen and the parent due to family instability, disrupted
family routines due to the entry and exit of parent figures; all of which undermine parental
monitoring of adolescents who may seek validation and acceptance in other relationships.
Prevention and Control of Teenage Pregnancy
Smith, Strohschein, & Crosnoe’s (2018) research on family histories as related to
teenage pregnancy infer the risk of a teenager becoming pregnant is related to the lifelong history
of changes in the family structure and experiences of poverty from early childhood through
adolescence. While these factors may be relevant to issues that lead to teenage pregnancy, how
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can repeated structural changes within families and the poverty experience be eliminated in an
effort to reduce the effects which lead to teenage parenthood?
Florescu, Temneanu, & Mindru (2016) reported the Cemetery for Disease Control ‘s
mandate to improve the quality of life for youth through providing knowledge of sexual issues,
HIV, STDs, methods of pregnancy prevention, personal values about sex and abstinence,
awareness of condom usage, abstaining from sex with multiple partners, and open
communication with parents and other adults about sex and contraception. Through education
and communication, the desired goal is to reduce the continuance of teenage pregnancy. Policy
makers and all other social service organizations must work together to develop the resources
needed to educate teenagers prior to sexual involvement about the serious consequences of
premature pregnancy. This process should take place in the home as well as in the school system.
Additionally, social service providers can also participate in offering sex education classes for
families receiving state or local assistance and other human services.
Anita Nelson & Roshni Kakaiya (2016) concluded in their research concerning the
prevention of unintended pregnancies that comprehensive counseling, especially for teens,
should include abstinence as an effective way to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
and as an effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy. Nelson & Kakaiya (2016) further infer
that a better understanding of the adolescent thought process concerning sex, may help shape the
messages that can better motivate younger women to delay sexual activity until they are prepared
to protect themselves from pregnancy and STIs and to use contraception correctly and
consistently when they become sexually active until they are prepared for pregnancy and
parenthood. Educational awareness of the results of unprotected sex and a renewed mindset
about the consequences of early parenthood, may aide in the deterrence of teenage pregnancy.
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Conclusion
The growth period between adolescent and young adulthood is a time of self-discovery. It
is a time of psychologically, physically, and emotionally adjusting to the changes of moving
through puberty. For many teenagers, discovering their identity and navigating through their way
through social circles can be confusing and stressful. Peer pressure can become a force for
adolescents to recon with, yet the adolescent may not have the ability nor the maturity to make
rational decisions about unhealthy and unsafe involvement in activities suggested by their peers.
Teenage pregnancy can easily become a reality for teenagers who are unsupervised, lacking in
sex education, and for teenagers who think, “getting pregnant will never happen to me”.
Research has proven that a vast majority of sexually active teenagers do not use any for of
contraception. The unfortunate, yet realistic result for teenagers who engage in unprotected sex is
an unintended pregnancy. While statistics may show a decline in teenage pregnancies, the reality
is that teenagers are still becoming pregnant at alarming rates. The goal of parents, school
officials, government agencies, and government policy makers must become focused on
educating teenagers concerning the consequences of early pregnancy and early parenthood which
will hopefully bring about a drastic and permanent decline in teenage pregnancy.
References
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Albany, A. D., & Albany, J.M. (2015). Impact of social and cultural factors on teen pregnancy.
Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 8(1), 41-62.
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=asn&AN=102567490&site=ehost-live&scope=site
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