Important Facts about Teen Pregnancy Teen pregnancy is an underage female between 13 -19 that becomes pregnant. During pregnancy, many females drop-out of school to deliver and take care of their child. There are many issues which occur with teenage girls during their pregnancy. The top three issues are emotional, social, and health problems. There are many thing that you can do to avoid becoming pregnancy abstinence as an option, sexual pressure, and Clarifying the values and setting boundaries. The first option could be abstinence. Abstinence can help people meet their goals.
When someone becomes pregnant, it changes their lives. It can make it hard for them to finish school and to find them a good job. The only way to avoid pregnancy is not to have sex. According to Anna Kreiner, having a boyfriend or girlfriend in the teen years can be very exciting. Having a guy or girl notice you make you feel special. You may experience new feeling that are wonderful at times and frustrating at other times. Your boyfriend or girlfriend may be pressing you to go, or further than you know today that engaging in sex can lead to anything from pleasure to deadly consequences.
Abstinence is the only way to prevent the sexual transmission of AIDs and to avoid other STDs and Pregnancy (6-7). More than 85 percent of teenage pregnancies are unplanned, and at least half of them occur within the first month of sexually activity. Abstinence is choosing not to engage in sexually activity. Sometimes people that put pressure on them but the best way to avoid pregnancy is by saying NO. According to the author, “Abstinence means deciding not to give in to a desire or a craving. Some people abstain from the temptation of drinking alcohol or taking drugs; other abstains from eating too many sweets.
In general people think of sexual abstinence as abstaining from sexual intercourse” (Ayer 8-9). Sexual Abstinence can be a good choice, and it also can be a difficult choice. It is difficult to some because there are some that are forced by their friends who are already having sex. They will say that it is cool, glamorous, and that it is for grown ups, and if a person does not do it they will tease and will call that person names. According to the author, obviously abstinence is not the only option available. Many teens do get involved in sexual relationships during high school.
By the age of fifteen, 27 percent of American males are sexually active, as are 22 percent of American females. By the age of sixteen, these numbers have jumped to 45 percent for males and 38 percent for females. These numbers are only getting larger. Sexual activity among teens is increasing steadily. These days, the average age at which young Americans first have sexual intercourse is at the age sixteen. By the time they have graduated from high school, 66 percent of the teens have already had sex. (Ayer14-15) Today there are more than a million teenage girls in the U.
S. who become pregnant each year. There are some teenagers that watch more than three hours of television and it is exposing them in sex related scene and images. Some parents don’t take the time to talk to their children about abstinence as an option. There are some parents who do talk about abstinence but the children don’t take the time to listen and do what the parents say. They often tend to talk about saving yourself for marriage. According to the author, “The media, peer pressure, and today’s lifestyles push many teens to have sex before they are ready.
According to recent study, 90 percent of girls under the age of sixteen who responded said they “wanted to learn how to say no to sex”. In the past people were expected to “save themselves for marriage’ to remain virgins until marriage. This idea is slowly gaining popularity with today’s teens, who are promising themselves in growing numbers that they will not have sex before marriage no matter how great the pressure is”(Ayer17). According to Ayer, for most teenagers having a baby is like being grounded. One or both parents must work to support the baby. This usually means that they do poorly in school or drop out altogether.
When they are not working they have to stay home and take care of the baby. If they do have a chance to go out, they must find and pay a babysitter (31). According to the author, Every fifty-six seconds, a baby is born to a teen mother in the United States. The future for these children and their young mothers is not very bright. Nearly 80 percent of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare. One in three teen mothers drops out of high school. Some teen mother tend to earn lower salaries and experience higher unemployment than women over age twenty who have children after marriage.
The children of adolescent mothers are at a higher risk of becoming teens parents themselves. Over 40 percent of teen mothers report living in poverty by the age of twenty-seven. (Ayer 32-33) My opinion about abstinence is that it’s a great idea. Also, I think that it is something that everyone should practice on and to keep from getting STDs. When giving yourself to another person it should be something special and scary. When it does happen it will be meaningful. There are some schools today that offer sex education as a course but the student doesn’t take it serious.
Some teen commitment to sexual abstinence takes a vow it makes them promise to stronger themselves. It also pressures them that are being sexually active is great at their age. There are some that are firm to say no under any circumstances. The second option could be Sexual Pressure. Many students today do everything under pressure. There are some that are firm and really careful about what they say and do. Some of them will say If you love me, you’ll do it, Everybody else doing it, and they will also say what if we don’t do it we will be unpopular.
According to Laurie Rozakis, My parents don’t care about me and the kids at school don’t like me. A baby will love me, no matter what. ” No one thinks I can do anything right but I can. I can have a baby. That shows someone love me. People will start to respect me once I have a baby of my own. Jennifer wanted a child. I’d been fighting with my mother for as long as I could remember. We never got along, I wanted someone to love and to love me back, and I never got the love I wanted from my mother. She always seemed too busy for me; I used to try to get her attention. I wanted to yell, “I need you!
Look at me! I started fooling around just to be close to someone. She didn’t like the sex part. She like being cuddled. (26) According to Rozakis, Sandra Hofferth, a researcher at the Urban Institute in Washington, D. C. studied the relationship between attending weekly religious services and putting off sexually activity. She found that girls who went to church often were less likely to get pregnant. A number of other studies support her findings. Some people say that this is too simple an answer for a complicated problem. Other’s say it time to preach valves once again (57).
According to Anna Kreiner, Sexual pressure can take many forms. Anytime someone tries to get ones to do something sexually that they don’t want to do, he or she is exerting sexual pressure. All sexual pressure is inappropriate. If it makes them uncomfortable, it is wrong. Both guys and girls can exert sexual pressure. Some guys feel that they have to have sex “to be a man”. Some girls think having sex will prove their partner that they really love them. Sex doesn’t equal love. They can still be with and love your partner without doing anything that makes them uncomfortable. (22-23)
There are many kinds of sexual pressure. One of them is verbal. Your partner may try to talk ones into having sex. Don’t let the words like “please” make them feel like they being unfair. Some people argue with their partner about have sexual involvement, and it not a good sign. When you in a relationship the decision to have sex is a decision between two people. Your friend will ask to go to bed with him/her, but you’re the one who have to live with the choice and deal with the consequences. According to the author, “Sometimes people play “mind games” to get do what they wanted.
For example, your boyfriend may say that if you love him you will have sex. But that not true. You can still love someone and not want to have sex. Sometimes the test of true love is being able to say no. And you will know that he loves you too if he is able to respect the boundaries you have established for yourself. You always have the right to no. If sexual activity feels wrong, you can stop. Your girlfriend or boyfriend may threaten to leave you if you don’t have sex with him/her. That’s another mind game. They don’t have to do anything sexually that doesn’t feel right.
It’s up to you to decide whether or not to continue the relationship” (Kreimer, 27). Sexual Pressure also can become physical. It can become physical when your partner starts exploring your body. Your partner start taking off your clothes and start being initiate more physical activity than someone want. The girls control their body and the boys control their body. If someone tries to do something that is uncomfortable he/she have the right to say no. He/she have the right to change their mind at anytime. Unfortunately, Sexual pressure can also become violent overtime.
According to the author, “Being a teenager can be a hard time socially, you want to have friends and fit in with the crowd. But having sex when you don’t want it will probably make you feel bad about yourself and angry at the people who pressured you. Dealing with peer pressure is a challenge. You may be afraid that no one will accept you if you don’t have sex. But it’s important for you to do what you think is right, no matter what” (Kreimer, 33). According to the author, You may think that everyone around you is having sex. That’s not true. Many people your age have decided to say no to sexual intercourse.
In recent survey, 76 percent of the male teens said they thought it okay to say no to sexual pressure. Often teen who have had sex wish they had waited. Another survey found that 80 percent of sexually active teens males who were asked the ideal age to start having sex indicated an older than they were when they first had sex. The most important part of making sexual choices is to do what seems right for you. It doesn’t matter whether or not any or all of your friends are getting involved sexually. The bottom line is that it’s your body. Your friends have their own bodies and they shouldn’t be telling you what to do with yours. Kreimer, 34) Many people think that when they engage in sexual activity it will improve their relationship. Sexual pressure damages feelings of trust and respect. When he/she pressure their partner it shows that one does not really care about him or her. There are some that feel like they are ready to have sex, and some try to persuade their partner to go along with them even if they don’t want to. The final option could be clarifying. Values are setting boundaries. Some teen think about their values and beliefs before getting involved in sexual activity. Many parents think that teens should wait until they are married efore they have sex. Many teens grown up in a religious belief family they will think that having sex outside marriage is wrong. According to Anna Kreimer, “You may think that your current boyfriend or girlfriend is the person you will be with forever, but feeling can change. The person you are dating now may not be the person you marry or decide to stay with for the rest of your life. So this may not be a good time for you to get involved in sexual activity, especially considering the possible consequences of unsafe sexual practices: sexually transmitted diseases, (STDs), including AIDs, and unwanted pregnancy” (14).
He/she thinks that the idea of having sex may be exciting, but they should remember that sex can complicated a relationship. Today it is important that they think about the effects and actions before they make their decision about sex. Sexual activity can have physical consequences. Someone can risk their lives by contracting serious sexually transmitted diseases. According to the author, Once you have established your values, you should set your boundaries. How far are you willing to go sexually? Some teens are comfortable with holding hands. Eventually you may want to hug & kiss.
It’s normal to have feelings of affection for you boyfriend or girlfriend and to want to express them. But there are ways to do this without “going all the way”. It is a wise idea to talk with your partner about your boundaries. If someone have a clear understanding of how far they are willing to go, they will be less likely to encounter sexual problem later. (Kreimer, 17) People who truly love one another care about each other ‘s points of view and concerns. It is exciting to find someone who can have an open discussion about anything in the relationship.
It is important that they understand where each other going through. Set your limit before getting involved in a relationship. It really hard to think in a bad moment, But they have to always think carefully before they engage in a relationship because their always consequences. When they decide to abstain from having sex that doesn’t mean you’ll never have sex it mean that they decide to wait. According to Barbara Miller, since 1935, public welfare has been a source of aid for single mothers and their children. Public welfare for poor mothers began as a way to help families remain together.
Before there was welfare, many single women had to place their children in orphanages because they had no way to care for them. If woman did keep her child, she often had to work so many hours a day that the child was not supervised properly (26-27). According to Laurie Rozakis, “young girls who have babies undergo great financial and emotional hardships because of their early childbearing. Only one third ever get married, and very few marry the father of their first child. Seven out of 10 children born to mothers under age 18 live in single-parent homes.
Divorce and separation are three times more likely to occur among teenagers than among older couples or couples who postpone childbearing until their twenties or later” (46). Work Cited: Ayer, N Eleanor, It’s okay to say no: Choosing Sexual Abstinence. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, INC 2000 Kreiner, Anna, In Control: Learning to say No to Sexual Pressure. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, INC 1999 Miller, Barbara, Teenage Pregnancy and Poverty: The Economic Realities. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, INC 1999 Rozakis, Laurie, Teen Pregnancy: Why are kids Having Babies? New York: A Division of Henry Holt and Company 1993
