Science and Babies Private Decisions, Public Dilemmas (1990) / Chapter Skim
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4. The Dilemma of Teenage Parenthood
4. The Dilemma of Teenage Parenthood
Pages 69-95
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From page 69... ...
The reality of almost 1 million teenage pregnancies a year demonstrates that this country's social and economic systems are failing a substantial proportion of our young citizens and, in doing so, are helping to perpetuate and enlarge the number of poor and badly educated men and women. This chapter outlines the extent of the dilemma and examines how the United States compares with other industrialized countries in levels of teenage pregnancy, births, and abortions.
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From page 70... ...
The 1986 Alan Guttmacher Institute study of teenage pregnancy in industrialized countries demonstrates that the rates of adolescent pregnancy, childbearing, and abortion in the United States outstrip those of other similarly developed nations, including Canada, England and Wales, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France. In England and Wales the pregnancy rate among girls 14 and younger is 3 per 1,000; for 19 year olds, it is 86 per 1,000.
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From page 71... ...
In general, Medicaid does not cover poor single people who do not have children or are not pregnant, poor married couples, and people whose incomes are just above the poverty levels used as Medicaid standards. Many American teens do not have a family doctor, and many fear that a private doctor would be unwilling to provide contraceptive services to a minor or would require parental permission before doing so.
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From page 72... ...
Malcolm Potts adds that "Teenage pregnancy is the kind of cruel paradox that biology and modern living play on us: in the very century when the duration of education has risen, the age of puberty has fallen dramatically." According to Dr. Federman, the persons at greatest risk of pregnancy during this long interval between menarche and marriage are girls 15 and younger who come from poor, probably single-parent families and who are just beginning sexual activity.
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From page 73... ...
Or they may feel they have no choices. With inadequate basic skills, poor employment prospects, and few role models who have managed to break out of poverty, it is not surprising that many teenagers see no reason to postpone pregnancy.
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From page 74... ...
panel discovered that, in general, the effect of parental relationships and communication between parent and child on teenage sexual activity may be small. Studies reveal that the parents' role in sex education is relatively minor.
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From page 75... ...
Some studies indicate that white girls may be most vulnerable to peer influences, particularly the attitudes of their closest male friends, and that peer pressure among black boys and girls seems to be relatively minor. On the other hand, after 17 months of interviewing and closely observing black adolescents and their families, Dash found that peer pressures definitely helped to encourage teens to become pregnant.
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From page 76... ...
Black girls with clear educational goals are even more likely than white girls or other black teenagers to use effective birth control. Sex Education Adults commonly assume that, if young people know how their bodies work and know about pregnancy and contraception, they will be more likely to seek family planning services and to use contraceptives effectively.
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From page 77... ...
Douglas Kirby, in a 1989 evaluation of sex education programs and their effect on students, found that while such programs could be quite effective in increasing knowledge of conception and contraception, they apparently had little real influence on sexual behavior and contraceptive use.
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From page 78... ...
While there was some profession of ignorance about birth control among adults 40 years old and older, not one of the adolescents that I met and interviewed had been ignorant about contraception before becoming pregnant." Although the sex education courses the teenagers had received varied in quality and thoroughness, all of the adolescents Dash interviewed were aware of birth control methods, particularly withdrawal, condoms, and the pill. They expressed a generally negative attitude toward oral contraceptives.
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From page 79... ...
He says: If good prenatal care is given and the concerns that are appropriate for the pregnant adult woman, such as nutrition, control of anemia, control of blood pressure, and finding gestational diabetes, are extended to the teenage mother, then the medical outcomes of adolescent pregnancies are very close to the medical outcomes of married, older women in the same society. Because nutrition directly affects the health of mother and child, babies born to teenagers, particularly poor teenagers, may be in greater danger of long-term health and developmental problems.
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From page 80... ...
A slightly larger proportion of older teens set up independent living arrangements, get a job, or get married and appear to be less able or willing to return to school. A study of Baltimore teenage mothers by researcher Frank.
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From page 81... ...
Lack of affordable child care is a major factor in the school dropout rates of teen mothers and in their inability to take a job. Frequently, adolescent mothers are able to go to school or work only because their own mothers take care of the grand child, thus halting their educational or career opportunities.
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From page 82... ...
They frequently are less healthy than the children of older married parents, their school performance is less favorable, and the daughters of teenage mothers disproportionately are very likely to become adolescent mothers themselves. Although research evidence is not extensive, the studies that do exist indicate that the age of a mother at the birth of her child can affect the child's intelligence, as measured on standardized tests, and his or her academic achievement.
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From page 83... ...
Hofferth, of the Urban Institute, concluded that much of the effect a teenage parent has on a child's social and intellectual development is indirect. She found, for example, that the unstable family structure that often characterizes teenage parenthood may have especially negative effects on the children as they reach adolescence.
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From page 84... ...
Some programs concentrate on increasing teenagers' knowledge of human reproduction, family relationships, and decision making; some offer family planning services; and some are designed to improve youngsters' educational and job opportunities. Sex Education Programs Public opinion polls have consistently showed that a majority of Americans believe children should be taught about reproduction in school so they can make informed decisions about their own sexual behavior.
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From page 85... ...
The obstacles to sex education are many. The Alan Guttmacher Institute surveyed secondary public school teachers who were entrusted with sex education courses.
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From page 86... ...
Others question the effectiveness of family life/sex education programs in promoting responsible contraception among teenagers who already are sexually active. The Johns Hopkins pregnancy prevention program provides strong evidence that a comprehensive service can help adolescents to postpone sexual activity and, if they are already sexually experienced, to avoid pregnancy.
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From page 87... ...
The costs of sex education and family life programs in particular are very low, dramatically so compared with the amount of money needed to support a teenage mother and her child for just one year. The NEC study panel on teenage pregnancy found that the federal share of supporting a young family was $1S,710 in 1979 dollars.
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From page 88... ...
The Guttmacher study concluded by noting that European countries concentrate on preventing teen pregnancy and the United States concentrates on preventing teen sex, and that is why Europe is more successful in reducing the number of adolescent pregnancies. Improving Access to Contraception For the sexually active teenager who wants to use birth control, family planning services are available in almost every large community.
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From page 89... ...
In the Guttmacher study of teenage pregnancy and childbearing in 37 nations, the researchers found that in this country a higher proportion of the population attends religious services and believes God is important in their lives. Fundamentalist groups in the United States, which often hold very conservative views on sexual behavior, are both extremely visible and vocal.
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From page 90... ...
Besides, oral contraception requires a prescription, a visit to a clinic or private physician for a pelvic examination and a Pap smear, and funds to renew the prescription every month, conditions that while not unsurmountable may be enough to discourage an adolescent from using this effective form of contraception. In countries where birth control has a high priority, family planning services and birth control methods are subsidized, so the question of cost does not prevent their use.
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From page 91... ...
But they recognized the value of preventive services when it became clear that the alternative would be a rise in teenage abortions. The 1975 law that made abortion legal in Sweden also established the basis of a system for offering contraceptive services to the young, a direct acknowledgment by the government that the need for abortions could be reduced by making effective birth control measures readily available.
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From page 92... ...
Studies do show that teen pregnancy rates are lower in countries that appear to be less ambivalent about sexuality. RESEARCH NEEDS improving reproductive health in the United States means more research on sexual behavior.
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From page 93... ...
· how and to what extent special programs to improve school performance are effective in keeping teenagers in school, boosting their achievements, and averting pregnancies. · the effect on the offspring of living in a family started by an adolescent pregnancy, especially as the children grow up.
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From page 94... ...
Many programs designed to reduce the incidence of teenage parenthood have been undertaken, with unclear results. More projects with well-planned research components are needed to demonstrate clearly what does and does not help adolescents delay sexual activity or avoid pregnancy.
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From page 95... ...
1986. Teenage Pregnancy in Industrialized Countries.
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