EFFECTS OF SEX EDUCATION AND SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUND ON TEENAGE PREGNANCY
The official definition of teenage pregnancy, according to a website source, is the pregnancy of a woman who has not celebrated her 20th natal day when the end of her pregnancy occurred. In layman’s terms, teenage pregnancy refers to adolescents, usually unmarried, who most of the times, accidentally became pregnant.
Teenage pregnancies are said to be interconnected with socio-economic issues. Teenage mothers usually have an inferior or lower academic status, and they come from lower economic and social standing. They suffer a social stigma in many cultures as pregnancy is usually outside marriage.
In the first world countries, those who have the highest rate of teenage pregnancies are adolescents coming from the United States and the United Kingdom while the lower juvenile pregnancies recorded came from Japan and South Korea. Globally, the highest ratio of adolescent pregnancies comes from the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. It has a range of 143 teenage pregnancies per 1000 teenagers. It is because female marry at a very early age in these countries.
The organization Save the Children found out that ninety percent of teenage pregnancies occur in developing countries. In the countries of Western Europe, teenage pregnancy or birth is not common. They attributed it to an effective sex education and the easy availability of contraceptives in the market as in the case of Scandinavian countries and Netherlands. For Italy and Spain, social stigmatization and traditional cultural values and mores still influence the actions of most of the adolescents.
Along with a very high teenage pregnancy rate in America, so is the abortion rate of teenagers. It declined in the 1990s due to, according to the Guttmacher Institute, one fourth abstinence and three fourth availing of contraceptives. However, it again rose in 2006. Its increase might also mean that there was a probable reduction in abortions.
Causes of early pregnancy differ in every society. Some society still applies the traditional or conventional gender roles and early marriage. In some, early pregnancy is considered as a blessing. In India, it is said that the primary cause of teenage pregnancy is the almost non-existent safe sex education and teachings. Teaching the youth birth control methods and the proper and correct way to handle peer pressure to indulge in sex and to say no to their boyfriends were usually not discussed by their parents, school authorities, or any government representatives.
Teenagers are usually too afraid or too shy to ask for information on sexuality much less ask for contraceptives. The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy of the United Kingdom found out those young adolescent women, when asked about contraceptives, only knows about the pill or condom. They have little or no knowledge about other techniques. They usually get their knowledge from media, books or any reading materials, and friends.
Aside from these, there are certain preconceptions about contraceptives. One of this is the apprehension on side effects. Sometimes, they forget to take their pills because they still have to hide the pills from family members, and they experience some problems or inconveniences when they need to purchase or get repeat prescriptions.
In some situations, the contraceptives were used incorrectly. Incorrect use of condoms is usually experienced by first timers.
In the socioeconomic factor, poverty is rated the top cause of teenage pregnancies. Female children who come from a household where abuse and domestic violence occurs tend to pregnancy at an early age. The higher the rate the teenager is exposed to unpleasant experiences, the higher the rate that teenager will be pregnant early. Likewise, boys raised in the same troubled household are the most likely to get a girl pregnant.
Studies show that girls who have no fathers or whose fathers abandoned them at an early age have a high tendency to engage in sexual activity early. It was also shown that girls whose fathers did not abandon them at all only engage in sexual activities at a later age
Low expectations on academic attainments are also a risk issue. If a mother or older sisters were teenage mothers, a girl is more likely to follow them.
A survey conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies showed that the incidence of teenage pregnancy are the characteristics of the lack of communication in the family particularly between child and parents, and to lack of and ineffective supervision of parents.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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