The rate of teen pregnancy is rapidly increasing each year, according to Live Science, (2012); there is an average rate of 400,000 teens in the United States between the ages of 15 and 19 that gives birth each year. This is a profoundly high rate of teen age pregnancy amongst the teenage population. This imposes an increased rate of high school drop-outs, repeated teenage pregnancies, and increased reliance of parental financial support or welfare. This is a costly factor that is constantly affecting society and furthermore hurting the infants of these teenage parents.
A sad reality to teenage pregnancy is that many of the teenage mother’s end up single parents. While to some it may be easier to blame the male for the break-up or their lack of parental support to their child or the mother, this is not entirely the best reasoning. Adolescents are similar to a child, in which their brains are still growing and developing within their environments. There is no adolescent that is well-developed enough to understand the dynamics of a long-term relationship with the opposite sex; regardless of the gender of the individuals. There mental capacity has not reached a level of maturity to process or thoroughly understand the dynamics of a relationship, so bringing a child into the world simply complicates the relationship even further. Being a parent is not an easy obstacle for any individual, and for teenagers being a parent is like growing up overnight.
The sad reality of teenage pregnancy is stemmed from the lack of education by these young individuals. Many teenagers do not understand the implications of having a sexual relationship with the opposite sex. There are some teenagers that believe they cannot get pregnant, while others are not using birth control regularly, or correctly.
Some of these misconceptions fall back in the laps of parents, educators, and practitioners. It is for the adults to educate these young people on the ramifications of sex, pregnancy, and furthermore sexually transmitted diseases. People cannot rely on the teenagers to educate themselves solely because their minds will only conceive the information they choose to conceive. It is the responsibility of the adults to come up with more effective ways of talking about sex, no matter how uncomfortable the topic may make them feel.
So to all the parents and educators that feels it somewhat difficult to talk with their teenagers about sex education, pregnancy, of sexually transmitted diseases; here are a few websites that can offer some practical suggestions:
http://parentingteens.about.com/od/teensexuality/a/teen_sex_talk.htm
life.familyeducation.com/sex/teen/34505.html
http://www.pamf.org/teen/parents/sex/sex.html
For more information about the new statistical information about teenage pregnancy, check out:
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