Talk:Causes and Effects of Teen Pregnancy

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Practical suggestions001:35, 28 March 2016
Practical Suggestions100:51, 7 April 2015
Practical Suggestions :)000:35, 7 April 2015

Practical suggestions

I have a few recommendations for editing this section, "Mothers." I recommend that you further categorize these main points in order to make them more effective. For example:

[School dropout rates] Due to becoming pregnant during adolescence, teen mothers are very likely to drop out of school because of their low ambitions and dedication to getting an education. About 38% of female teens who have a child before the age of 18 complete their highschool education by the age of 22. This means that a very high percentage of teen mothers will not even go on to graduate from high school let alone pursue post secondary education [4]. In light of this, these young girls do not have full qualifications for proper jobs in the future, which leads to having a job with very low wages or even worse, unemployment. Further this leads to poor living conditions and the inability to maintain a safe and clean environment for their new born child. These young women often end up living on welfare and do not have adequate resources for their child[2]. Overall, these young girls are forced to delay and postpone any plans for their future in order to raise their child [1].

[Emotional and psychological impacts] Another issue associated with teen pregnancy is the young mother is often forced to essentially give up her identity for a new one while switching into a maternal role. These young mothers go through many physical changes: from adolescent physical adjustment to having to adapt to the ever changing shape of her body through the pregnancy and her postpartum figure.

[Parental involvement and reliance] Teens are often forced to become reliant on their family for financial resources as well as support to help get her through raising a child. In some cases, teens are shunned by their parents and do not even receive any support from their parents who are not accepting of the pregnancy. These young girls are often forced to lose contact with friends and others in their social groups in order to focus on their pregnancy[1].

[Health and pregnancy] Pregnant teens often do not have the proper healthy habits in order to go through a successful child rearing process. These mothers thus have heightened health risks, which inhibits healthy child development. Young women can suffer from things such as anaemia as well as [high] blood pressure which is only possible during pregnancy [5]. These mothers often smoke and drink because they are not properly educated on the child rearing process.

[Effects on social development and relationships] Having a child during these essential years truly clashes with the developmental tasks that should be occurring during adolescents. These young mothers are unable to fully develop a sense of self identity because of their new role as an expecting mother. Further, peer and social relationships are strained or even terminated and teen years are essentially for developing relationships with others and discovering oneself [5]. Due to all of these factors, teen mothers may end up developing depression after essentially being alienated from their family and friends[1]. These symptoms of depression increase the chances of the teen mother committing suicide[2].

[Lack of resources and social support] Pursuing this further, teen mothers are often strained for resources and social support from the father of the child. In some cases, the teen father will remain present throughout the process and in others the father will not. If the father remains present there is often high relationships tension and dissatisfaction because of the lack of financial resources, support and child care which will be needed. There are increase conflict which may lead to breakups, leaving the mother to be a single parent or even violence within the relationship [5]. Due to the lack of financial resources, these young women often do not get prenatal check ups or regular check ups for their developing child and thus they are unaware of any health concerns for their child.

[the section below should be edited for clarity - it includes a run-on sentence that is not very clear] Many of these teen mothers are not healthy enough, thus they have higher risk for obstructed labour and also these young women often undergo unsafe abortions which lead to the death of many young females and their unborn child[2].

CharlotteGrant (talk)01:35, 28 March 2016

Practical Suggestions

In terms of a practical suggestion, I came across an article that I think would tie in very nicely to the work you have done so far. I will include the link at the bottom of this post, but it is regarding the family influences on teenage pregnancy. I thought this could be a relevant section to add to the “causes” you have listed at the moment. I also thought it would create a stronger argument and provide some more peer reviewed evidence for the section on assisting adolescent parents and prevention. I really enjoyed your topic and I think you have done a really good job with the information you have collected. I just think a greater emphasis should be placed on the family influences, as the support system of the family plays a large role in almost every case of teen pregnancy. I also think this is a good addition to the causes section more-so than the prevention section, as many mothers who became pregnant as a teenager came from dysfunctional families.

Cheers!

JerodBartnik (talk)00:50, 7 April 2015

Sorry, here is the link to the article I discussed in the post above ^^

http://www.popline.org/node/522264

And the reference of the literature is:

Miller, B. C. (1998). Families matter: a research synthesis of family influences on adolescent pregnancy.

JerodBartnik (talk)00:51, 7 April 2015
 

Practical Suggestions :)

I would recommend that under causes, that culture and race be addressed indepth because there are definite differences in instances of teen pregnancy based on this. An example would be that within certain cultures abortion is frowned upon for numerous reasons that may also differ between culture. Meanwhile, abortion is much more widely accepted in other cultures/societies and would greatly impact the incidences of reported teen pregnancies and pregnancies seen through. Additionally, in different cultures it is more acceptable to become pregnant at younger ages and would also influence whether or not they would choose to proceed (and report) with the pregnancy. This could also be addressed within the effects section, because culture and religious beliefs can have an effect on the outcome of the pregnancy and how it effects the parents and child's life as well.

Geography as well as race are important factors within Canada (this is tied in with low SES). In Canada there are significantly higher rates of teen pregnancy for First Nations women and those rates vary greatly depending on their region (SES varies with region, also urban vs. rural areas having differences between pregnancy rates). Addressing the experience for First Nations women during pregnancy would also be a valuable topic to cover generally as their experience often is often quite a bit different than that of other women.

Here is an article that covers some of this from the perspective of women in Manitoba: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1117&context=iipj

Here is some statistical information in regards to pregnancy and First Nations women from the government of Canada: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/pubs/aborig-autoch/2009-stats-profil-vol2/index-eng.php

Here is a figure of First Nation birthrates in comparison to other Canadians by age group: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/pubs/aborig-autoch/stats-profil-atlant/index-eng.php#fig5

A final note that I would like to make is under effects of teenage pregnancy to include fathers as main category like "Mothers" and "Child". Although many times fathers are not involved, there are many who are and it definitely does effect them too!

This is a really interesting topic and you covered a lot of material!

OshaHagon (talk)01:28, 6 April 2015