Sociology and Teenage Pregnancy.

Sociologists differ in the way that they approach health and illness issues. There are three main ways used to analyse health, Social Positivist, Interactionist, and Structuralist.

Social Positivists build on the biomedical approach. It is argued that it is individualist in its application and can be victim blaming (Graham 1999). It looks at lifestyle and can include analysing individual social behaviour. Within this perspective, sexual behaviour can be seen to be under the direct control of the individuals concerned. People can choose whether or not to have sex. Within this approach all that is needed to change the situation in teenage pregnancy is for health educators to give information to people so that they can make the right choices. Cultural influences are also looked at by Social Positivists. They arise from shared norms and values existing within a community. People within these communities are influenced in their health choices by the cultural values of the majority. Research in sexual health indicates that working class girls are more likely to have their first sexual experiences at a younger age than middle class girls. So working class culture has influenced their health decisions. Social Positivists tend to take a negative definition of health.

In contrast to the Social Positivist approach, the Interactionist perspective is concerned to not look at the external influences affecting health, but rather the interaction between these events and interpretative processes. We construct an understanding of ourselves out of the experiences we have of others.  As Blumer (1969) puts it, we are ‘meaning givers’.

Looking at health presents some interesting questions. Attention is placed on the processes by which people come to define themselves as healthy or unhealthy. This could be argued that for the area of teenage pregnancy, the young mothers themselves may not define themselves to be unhealthy, but are defined as such by the societal response to the issue. Some research indicates that in itself teenage pregnancy is not a health issue but a social issue. Labelling can then be seen as a power issue. For the Interactionist, health can be defined as both positive and negative, and it is much more concerned with subjective meanings.

Within a structural perspective, health and illness does not strike people randomly. It is structured within countries with creation groups consistently coming out better than others no matter what measure of health is taken. Structuralists look at what causes these patterns and will locate the explanation within the way society as a whole is organised.

The most influential accounts of structuralism come from Marxism and Feminism. In relation to my topic area, feminists have long argued that patriarchal society is

structured in such a way so as to not give women full control over their sexuality. ‘It is argued that full control over ones reproductive health is a human right and denied by patriarchal society to keep women in a place of subordination’ (Greer 2002).

Structural theory raises important issues about dominant understandings of health, the role of doctors in society and the impact of the profit motive in standards of health care. They are now interested in the origins of inequality and how they change over time. Feminists such as Laws (1985), Pollock (1985), and Greer (2002), have drawn the attention to the way in which women’s sexuality has been subjected to patriarchal control. 

The question of reproductive rights is an important issue in health and social care. For women control over their reproductive health is essential. For equality of opportunity to become reality women have to have access to safe and effective birth control. This will allow them to make choices over their fertility.