Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is usually not an ideal situation. There are many reasons why teenage pregnancy is not a great situation. And the negative ramifications of teenage pregnancy effect both the mother and the baby. Teenage pregnancy in our day and age and in most cultures is premature. Teenage pregnancy means that a teenage girl will have to focus on the care and well being of another human when she herself may not be fully mature in many areas. The fact that she is still a teenager and pregnant means that there will be an interruption in her own psychological and emotional development and depending on the age of the teenager, her physical development as well can be adversely affected.

Most teenage pregnancies are unplanned so there are a host of negative emotional reactions to the pregnancy that are normal, but still negative. The teenager often feels fear and confusion and guilt. And she often feels resentment, anger and frustration. If she is not in a loving, supportive relationship, she can feel isolated and abandoned. All of these normal, but negative feelings create stress which in turn effects her growing fetus.

Teenage pregnancy often has negative outcomes for the baby. There has been much research done in the area of teenage pregnancy and vast amounts of money spent on campaigns to educate and inform the public, and teenagers, in particular about the harm that can be done by becoming pregnant during one's teens. One of the most obvious negative social effects of teenage pregnancy is the fact that schooling will be interrupted and even abandoned and a limited education will effect the financial well being of the family drastically. A large percentage of teenage mothers end up is social programs for support because she is apt to be alone and not have completed her education and her earning potential is very limited. In these cases, the children then often grow up in poverty. Although this may not be the most significant negative outcome of teenage pregnancy, it is relevant and frequently passes on from generation to generation.

The negative physical results that often occurs in teenage pregnancies is pre-term births, low birth weights in babies and later on, a higher risk of the child needing special education classes as a result of the psyco-social situation of the teenage mother. Growing up in poverty often means poor nutrition which can effect learning readiness. So it is less a matter of the age of the mother when pregnant and more the effect socioeconomic conditions of the mother. Children raised by teenage parents are more likely to become involved in crime and live in poverty.

Although teenage pregnancy throughout history was the norm. Once a teenage girl reached the stage of sexual maturity, she married and soon after became pregnant, but in the modern, Western world, this practice has changed and teenage girls pursue an education and teenage pregnancy is no longer a positive situation. In addition, studies show that girls are maturing at a younger age and becoming sexually active at a younger age so the incidence of teenage pregnancy is high and expected to increase over the next decade.

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