Public Health Topic: Teen Pregnancy

by morgan7duboisgmailcom (student)

University Degree Subjects allied to Medicine

DuBois

Public Health Topic: Teenage Pregnancy

Morgan DuBois

15046852

Public Health 1

Winter 2013

Bic

PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM

A forefront public health issue that the United States is facing is teenage pregnancy. According to the CDC “in 2011, a total of 329,797 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years” (2013). Teenage pregnancy produces serious consequences for the teenage mother, child, and society in general. For these reasons, preventing adolescent pregnancy is a high public health priority. The rate of teen pregnancy has declined since the 1950’s, but it is still a current issue in the United States (Schneider, 2011). However, “despite the recently declining teen pregnancy rates, 34% of teenage girls get pregnant at least once before they reach age 20, resulting in more than 820,000 teen pregnancies a year” (“Adolescent Pregnancy Rates,” 2004).

One of the central problems with teenage pregnancy are the health consequences facing the young mothers. Teenage mothers are less likely to seek prenatal care which effects both the mother and baby. If pregnant teenagers do seek prenatal care is it usually later in the pregnancy when compared to older mothers (Trussell 1988). “Common medical problems among adolescent mothers include poor weight gain, pregnancy-induced hypertension, anemia, sexually transmitted diseases, and cephalopelvic disproportion” (“Adolescent Pregnancy Rates” 2004). Also, young mothers are more likely to smoke during their pregnancy (Schneider 2011). Children born to teenage mothers are more likely to suffer from low birth weight, which has many problems associated with it such as chronic respiratory problems, mental illness, cerebral palsy, deafness, and blindness (“Teen Pregnancy,” 2013).

Pregnancy at a young age tends to interfere with the mother’s education, which in turn will effect her future career. “Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, versus approximately 90% of women who had not given birth during adolescence” (“Teen Pregnancy,” 2013). Due to the stress of pregnancy and they are more likely to miss school and thus end up poor and on welfare. The money for welfare comes straight from our taxes. In 1987 it was estimated that it costs $18,130 a year to support a young mother and her baby (Mclellen, 1987). Currently, teen pregnancy is a burden on society because the government spends about $7 billion to help families that began with a teenage birth (“Adolescent Pregnancy Rates,” 2004). Many politicians see teenage pregnancy as a drain on tax payers if the mothers are receiving welfare from the government.

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The seriousness for adolescent pregnancy and parenthood is sometimes forgotten because of the effects of the media. Teenage pregnancy is commonly used as the theme or plot in many books, movies, and television shows. This serious issue is sometimes portrayed as lighthearted which can change peoples view and make them forget about all the physical, monetary, and physiological risks that come along with having a child at an early age. Reality-shows featuring pregnant teenager’s stories have become a common thing to see on television. MTV has launched two popular shows on the subject titled 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. The media portrays young pregnancy as glamorous or as a fairy tale. What young girls see on magazine covers and on television can greatly influence them. The media’s tendency to show false images of what teen motherhood entails can make it seem like there’s nothing to worry about when teens have unprotected sex, but in fact there are many consequences to teenage pregnancy.

HOW TO SOLVE THE PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM

Currently in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is pairing up with the federal Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) to reduce teenage pregnancy rates and bring attention to this continuing problem. The program is Teen Pregnancy Prevention 2010-2015: Integrating Services, Programs, and Strategies Through Community wide Initiatives and it is a part of The President’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI). This is the main method that public health officials are working on to solve the teenage pregnancy problem in the United States. The mission statement for this program states that it is intended to “demonstrate the effectiveness of innovative, multicomponent, community wide initiatives in reducing rates of teen pregnancy and births in communities with the highest rates, with a focus on reaching African American and Latino/Hispanic youth aged 15–19 years.” (“Teen Pregnancy,” 2013). A community wide approach means that intervention will include a common approach but implemented with different strategies according to the community (“Teen Pregnancy,” 2013).

The CDC strictly lays out their four goals for this program. These program goals include; “reduce the rates of pregnancies and births to youth in the target areas, increase youth access to evidence-based and evidence-informed programs to prevent teen pregnancy, increase linkages between teen pregnancy prevention programs and community-based clinical services, and educate stakeholders about relevant evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies to reduce teen pregnancy and data on needs and resources in target communities” (“Teen Pregnancy,” 2013).

There are five key components that go along with this program. The first component involves creating a community wide effort to address teenage pregnancy prevention. Community mobilization includes spreading information, generating support, and encouraging cooperation form public and private sectors of the community. Another important component of this program is providing teenagers with evidence based teen pregnancy prevention programs in order to reduce early pregnancies, and associated risk factors. The program also seeks to increase youth access to contraceptives and reproductive health care services. The CDC and OASH want clinics to provide reproductive health care services that are easily accessible for teenagers, especially in places where the teenagers are at a higher risk. This program also seeks to educate the adults as well as kids. By educating parents and community members, information about the risks of teenage pregnancy and how to prevent it will be passed down to the youth population from the adults that they respect. The fifth and final component for this program is working with diverse communities. This will raise awareness in the community and ensure culturally and linguistically appropriate programs (“Teen Pregnancy,” 2013).

Teen Pregnancy Prevention 2010-2015 has ambitious goals such as reducing teen birth rates by 10% in target communities and increasing the percentage of youth who abstain from or delay sexual intercourse. With their carefully mapped out plan these goals seem plausible to accomplish in the next few years (“Teen Pregnancy,” 2013).

Previously in the United States, teen birth rates were attempted to be managed through abstinence programs. The Adolescent Family LIfe Act (AFL) of 1981 was designed and implemented to prevent teen sex as a means of decreasing teen birth rates (Christopher, 1995). In the AFL programs as well as other abstinence programs, topics such as contraceptives and abortion were purposely not in the curriculum.

PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE FUTURE

A variety of methods have been tried and tested in school to lower teenage pregnancy rates. Through many research studies it has been proven that abstinence only programs are ineffective in lowering the teen pregnancy rates (Christopher, 1995). The current CDC and OASH program utilizes techniques that have worked in the past to help lower the united state’s adolescent pregnancy rate. The program is avoiding an abstinence view on the subject and is trying to focus on target communities in order to get the best results for it’s efforts.

In the mid 1990’s pregnancy rates for teens from the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, France, and Canada were compared. It was found that France and Sweden’s rates for pregnant women between the ages for 15 and 19 were half that of Canada and Great Britain. The United States had rates four times the level of France and Sweden. The United States overall had a highest percentage of younger girls being pregnant. “Large differences in pregnancy and STD rates may be due to differences in the proportion of adolescent women who are sexually active and, therefore, are at risk of pregnancy and infection. Alternatively, they may be related to variation among sexually active adolescent women in the steps that they take to prevent pregnancy and STD infection, including their use of contraceptives, their choice of method and the effectiveness of their method use” (Jacqueline Darroch, Susheela Singh, and Jennifer Frost, 2011).

From the articles on teenage pregnancy that I have read and from my experience, I can conclude that abstinence programs are not an effective way of reducing teenage pregnancy rates. These programs aren't effective because they commonly use scare tactics and they don't teach teens how to be safe when they are sexually active. I think that the best way for the united states to reduce the number of young girls getting pregnant is to provide information through sex education in schools about how to have safe sex. Contraceptives should also be easily available to youths so they are able to be safe without having to worry about judgement from authority or peers. By sticking with the techniques that have worked in the past the rate of teenage pregnancy can be significantly reduced by public health efforts.

Works Cited

Adolescent Pregnancy Rates. (2004). Retrieved from

Christopher, F. Scott. (1995). Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. Family Relations, 44 (4), pp.384-391.

Darroch, J., Singh, S., & Frost, J. (2001). Family planning perspectives. Retrieved from

McClellan, Mary. (1987). Teenage Pregnancy. The Phi Delta Kappan, 68 (10), pp. 789-792.

Schneider, Mary-Jane. (2011). Family Planning and Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy. Introduction to Public Health (pp. 319-321). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Teen Pregnancy Prevention 2010–2015. (2013). Retrieved February 16, 2013, from

Trussell, James. (1988). Teenage Pregnancy in the United States. Family Planning Perspectives, 20 (6), pp.262-272.